Challenges of air medical evacuation from Antarctica

Need for dental care among medical staff working in the China Antarctic stations

Even though China Antarctic medical care has made huge progress, dental care has always been a neglected area. Dental health is well-known to be closely related with life quality and work efficiency. Hence, knowing the dental care situation there and providing ways to improve are urgently needed. We choose doctors who worked in China Antarctic station as a window to see the whole picture by sending questionnaire. The results showed dental visits ranked second high, the ratio of doctors who got pre-departure dental knowledge education and screen is low. What is worse, none of them got any after-departure dental check. Their dental knowledge is not as good as we expect, and they were troubled by dental problems in Antarctic. Interestingly, most dental problems were treated by non-dentist with no essential equipment, but 2/3 of them were satisfied with the outcome. As for the dental-related diet and behaviour, snacks eating and alcohol drinking are the strongest predictors of dental pain and gum problem. Those findings are crucial to Antarctic dental care and research.

Surgical training strategies for physicians practicing in an isolated environment: an example from Antarctica. International survey of 13 countries with active winter stations

For 60 years, human presence in Antarctica has required particularly demanding medical skills. Nevertheless, the preparation of physicians working in this extreme environment remains unknown and deserves clarification. This study aimed to summarise data on the surgical training given to physicians by different countries. In April 2020, we conducted a questionnaire-based study of 14 countries wintering in Antarctica. Responses were descriptively analysed. Regarding the profiles of physicians recruited by the wintering countries, 30% to 55% were non-surgeon doctors compared with 45% to 70% for surgeons depending on the year. Of the 13 countries answering the questionnaire, nine organised practical surgical training and six used theoretical material. All countries reported practical training for dental surgery, while only five countries provided training in four other surgical specialities (orthopaedic, digestive, thoracic, and ear, throat, and nose). All 13 countries reported using a telemedicine system. These results revealed heterogeneous training strategies among the recruited physicians, reflecting the difficulties of practice on this extreme continent. Future work may assess the effectiveness of each strategy. A better understanding of surgical epidemiology and a detailed referencing of the equipment available at the bases would help better define the contours of surgical care in Antarctica.