The maritime environment: a comparison with land-based remote area health care

The sea is not often considered when discussing remote area health care; however, when a comparison is made of the challenges posed by this and land-based remote areas and the experiences of people providing health care in both settings, the similarities are striking. Like people living in land-based remote areas, seafarers live in isolated communities, are often in remote geographical locations, and are required to be self-sufficient in the provision of health care, utilising limited medical resources and training in conjunction with radio medical advice. Given the large numbers of small, isolated floating communities that characterise the world shipping industry, some consideration of the quality of and access to health care needs to be made. This paper introduces the marine environment as a remote area, drawing comparisons between it and land-based environments. Issues pertinent to the people providing health care in both environments are discussed. These issues include limited educational preparation, sparse resources and the problems related to distance, isolation, communication, accessibility and weather.