Marine Interactive Satellite Technologies MIST

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Marine Interactive Satellite Technologies (MIST)
crobbins _at_mun.ca www.med.mun.ca/telemed
Telehealth and Educational Technology Resource
Agency (TETRA)
Memorial
University of Newfoundland
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Marine Interactive Satellite Technologies (MIST)

• Market considerations
• Environment issues
• MIST Goals / Elements / Partners/Sponsors
• Technology installation
• Consult activities
• Evaluation / Lessons

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Marine environment a market for telehealth
services???

• Increasing cruise industry / older clients
• Coast Guard carrying out more distant and
  extended travel in northern environments
• Fishing and offshore oil industries
• Challenges for travel and communications

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Providing services in a hostile environment

• Cold Water
• Fall / Winter weather
• Arctic ice

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Offshore commuting by air and sea
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On-call physician monitoring emergency exercise
on oil rig
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MIST Goals and Elements

• Design, develop and implement a system to provide
  health and information services to a marine
  vessel at sea (Marine Atlantic ferry)
• Elements
• The Wireless Sickbay (Telehealth)
• Teletourism Kiosks
• Business Applications (Internet access). (Only
  Telehealth element to be discussed)

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MIST Partners

• Telesat Canada (Telesat)
• TETRA Memorial University (TETRA)
• Collaborative Network Technologies Inc.
  (Colabnet)
• Marine and Mountain Zone Corporation (MMZC)
• Communications Research Centre (CRC)
• Marine Atlantic

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MIST Sponsors

• European Space Agency / Canadian Space Agency
• CANARIE Inc
• Canadian Center for Marine Communications
• Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
• Total project budget 1.2 M

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• Three fully booked round-trips per week during
  summer between Argentia NL and North Sydney NS
• Thirteen hours at sea each way

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Sickbay Installation
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MIST Consult types

• Staff check-in / simulated consultation
• Volunteer patient consultation
• Urgent / Emergent consultation
• (Field labels 1 and 2 test / 3 live)

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MIST Activity (Aug Sept 03)

• Test consults initiated by ship 37
• Test consults initiated by hospital 18
• Live consults 4
• Abdominal pain
• Neck Injury
• Dressing change
• Motion sickness

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Summary of MIST Logs
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Field trial challenges

• Unplanned move of Port Aux Basques earth station
  mid-summer 02
• Sick bay space on ship inadequate for equipment
  to small for telehealth function and equipment
  caused overheating of space
• Wiring upgrade in hospital delayed
• Failure of shipboard video unit July 24
  necessitating replacement
• Aug 24 network failure in MMZ effectively ending
  field trials

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Evaluation and Lessons

• Feedback sheets completed by providers, hospital
  and shipboard staff and clients highly favorable
  re value of experience, moderately favorable re
  technical aspects.
• Training a constant issue
• Need better shipboard space
• Management of BOD cumbersome, needs control by
  field staff
• Need to reconcile cultures of busy ship, health
  providers and research staff
• Concept proven / Refinements needed to create
  stable service