Medical Briefcase For In-Flight Patient Evaluation

Makarand writes "On average one plane a day makes an unscheduled landing somewhere around the world when a passenger unexpectedly falls ill and requires medical attention. Diversion costs for an airline, related to fuel expenses and cost of putting people in hotels, can be anywhere between $50,000- $100,000 for each diversion. Now Airbus, in collaboration with the French Space agency, has come up with a solution in the form of a satellite-connected medical briefcase to determine if the patient needs urgent medical attention on the ground before making a diversion according to this BBC News article. A crew member with proper training can use the device to complete a medical examination of the patient in 2 minutes and download the data using satellite in real time to a hospital. A diversion is made if the emergency physician feels that the patient needs medical attention on the ground. Airbus believes that as planes get bigger, fuel efficient and fly longer hours with more number of people the chances of someone needing medical attention will increase creating a market for this device."

Comments

Better than nothing, but...

[gammelby]

While not being a physician myself, I still think the usefulness sounds a bit exaggerated:

"In two minutes you have a complete examination of the patient, you send this via the computer to the doctor, who is now able to make a complete assessment of the patient's status."

Especially compared to the data the device actually collects:

A crew member with proper training can now take basic heart, blood, temperature and sugar level readings.

Not much info to provide a complete examination, isn't it?