A high-tech alternative to doctors’ house calls

A new service was unveiled this week that promises to enhance the overall health and safety of oilfield workers in offshore or remote locations. RigNet Medical, a technology jointly developed by communications provider RigNet and telemedicine company NuPhysicia LLC, allows oilfield workers to be seen by onshore physicians without having to leave the platform or the field.

RigNet Medical is a distance-medicine service that gives employees real-time access to a physician through a videoconference-type format. The technology connects seamlessly into a platform's existing network infrastructure, and physician and patient interface face-to-face through high-quality cameras and television monitors.

In addition, the physician is able to perform various diagnostic examinations on the patient with a portable medical system, which is located at the patient's location. The system includes a digital stethoscope for heart and lung exams, and additional scopes for examining inside the ears and nose, for examining wounds or skin lesions, and for looking down a patient's throat.

These digital scopes all fit into a small suitcase that stows easily or can be quickly set up in the rig infirmary or other location. For added convenience, the system size conforms to airline carry-on luggage requirements.

The doctor can control these scopes remotely to obtain close-up views of a particular area, and in digital clarity. At the same time, the doctor can pull up electronic medical records of the patient, such as X-rays or previous blood-work results, using highly secure standard or wireless computer networks.

Telemedicine has been used in limited scope for other industries over the past decade, such as on cruise ships. However, Glenn Hammack, president and chief executive officer of NuPhysicia, said that this endeavor with RigNet is the first time a telemedicine service has been made widely available to the oil and gas industry.

"Telemedicine uses the latest technological advances to create a direct line of access to high-quality health care," said Hammack. "We see this as a convenient way to handshake with conventional brick and mortar medical facilities onshore, but it is not a complete replacement of the care one might receive in a fully staffed and equipped facility."

According to Hammack, the demand for increased telemedicine services around the world was the reason NuPhysicia was formed. The company is in partnership with the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston, Texas, an institution that is considered one of the pioneers in advancing telecommunications technologies in the area of health-care delivery to remote locations.

Lars P. Eliassen, vice president of global sales and marketing for RigNet, said, "Access to quality health care is unquestionably a global concern" for the oil and gas industry. Eliassen continued by stating that through this telemedicine service, the industry will be better able to control health-care costs, reduce unnecessary transits off the jobsite, expand uptime, reduce medical-care risk, and enhance offshore medical services.

Evaluating employees on the rig instead of transporting them to shore brings several benefits to the patient as well, according to Hammack. "We've always envisioned RigNet Medical as being a useful first-pass tool to assess a medivac situation. Often, a physician can make a treatment recommendation without having the patient airlifted to shore, which reduces medical risk and rig downtime."

Hammack pointed to several other benefits. "This technology is not just for emergency situations, but can be implemented to routinely examine a patient with chronic-care illnesses such as diabetes or high blood pressure, to perform routine checkups, or even for counseling services.

"It is well-documented that the oil and gas workforce is getting older, so you are going to see the need for chronic-care evaluations increase. This telemedicine technology allows a company to do that easily, no matter where they might be located. It will also help the industry with personnel recruitment and retention."

Hammack confirmed that some offshore service providers have already begun carrying RigNet Medical technology on their vessels around the world, and the technology is being used for an ongoing global research project studying viral diseases.

Eliassen pointed to this technology as leveling the playing field for oil and gas workers in countries that might not have easy access to Western-standardized medical care. "This has become especially important for oil-producing regions like offshore west Africa. The cost of the technology has come down sufficiently in recent years, and it has become compact enough, so that nearly any remote field location can use it and benefit from it."

To learn more about RigNet Medical, visit www.rig.net, or contact Lars Eliassen by email, or by phone at +1.281.674.0100.

Ted Moon is the Technology Editor of JPT Online. He brings information on emerging technologies, R&D successes, new field applications, updates from SPE papers about recent innovations, and more. If you have a question or suggestion for future article topics, email Ted at teched@spe.org.