Journal of Health Care Communications Open Access

Maritime telemedicine: Design and development of an advanced Healthcare system called marine doctor

Global Congress on Healthcare and Technologies

August 09, 2022 | Webinar

Francesco Amenta

University of Camerino, Italy

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Healthc Commun

Abstract:

Background: The availability of better healthcare services is critical for health protection of people working at sea. The development of expert systems can help ships with limited medical facilities, to properly refer symptoms to remote doctors. This allows to make a correct diagnosis and proper treatment of medical issues. Software named Marine Doctor (M Doc) was developed by incorporating computing technologies to address this objective. Methods: With the help of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) this application can support the provision of appropriate medical assistance to seafarers. The system was developed with Python Tkinter (frontend) and PHP (backend) languages. MySQL was used as a server database. Results: Seafarers can use M Doc to prepare more precise requests for medical advice. This can reduce complications due to misdiagnosis and help doctors to make proper decisions. By automatically collecting appropriate sequences of symptoms, doctors will be able to make a correct diagnosis and subsequent advice based on the data. Conclusions: Technology supporting health provision on board ships will promote better dialogues between ships and Telemedical Maritime Assistance Services (TMAS). This can contribute to define the future of medical assistance at sea.

Biography :

Prof Francesco Amenta, M.D. is a Full Professor of Anatomy and Director of the Telemedicine and Telepharmacy Centre at the School of Medicinal and Health Products of the University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy. In 1995 Professor Amenta was appointed as Scientific Director of the non-profit foundation Centro Internazionale Radio Medico (C.I.R.M.), the Italian telemedical maritime Assistance Service (TMAS). At C.I.R.M. he started an applied research activity for improving the quality of medical care of seafarers. This through the promotion of telemedicine education and the improvement of technological background of medical assistance at sea. Since 2011 Professor Amenta has served as the President of C.I.R.M and worked on several projects related to maritime telemedicine, and telepharmacy. In the meantime, the Telemedicine and Telepharmacy Centre at the University of Camerino, has graduated several high-quality PhD scholars and master’s degree students in the field of Telemedicine. Professor Amenta has authored over 500 research articles on various fields of medicine, telemedicine and neurology and has published/edited several books.