Telemedicine Devices Are for More Than Just Treating Physical Injuries

Imagine a crewmember aboard a vessel awoke his captain in the middle of the night and admitted to having severe anxiety, depression, and thoughts of wanting to jump off the ship into the ocean.

The captain’s first call is to his maritime telemedicine support service. From there, he’s connected to an emergency medicine physician who will assist him in treating his crewmember. The physician instructs the captain to immediately implement suicide precautions by confining the crewmember to a safe room that’s free of dangerous objects.  

Next, a psychiatrist connects with your team to perform a telepsychiatric assessment of the patient. They use a remote telemedicine kit using a secure video conference application. This allows the psychiatrist to talk with the patient privately, assess the patient’s level of agitation, psychological history, and determine his risk of immediate further decompensation. 

It’s at this point that an important discovery is made. The patient reveals that he stopped and then restarted his anti-depressant medication. As a result of the assessment, the doctor prescribed anti-anxiety medication and recommended that suicide precautions be maintained while aboard the vessel.  

The doctor determined that the patient was fit to fly if accompanied by a repatriation team consisting of a paramedic and an assistant who are equipped with proper medication to assist the patient with his travel.   

When the vessel eventually reached port the next day, the patient connected with the repatriation team where he was escorted to a psychiatric facility in the United States.

Stories like these happen all the time while out at sea. You can’t predict when an individual will have a mental breakdown, succumb to depression, and other factors. But you can equip yourself with the right tools to properly handle these situations.

It can make the difference when a crew member is suffering from a debilitating mental condition. Your DMOs don’t always have the training required to make decisions when it comes to mental health. But connecting with a doctor or psychiatrist through remote telemedicine devices solves this problem.