Medical evacuation of remote industrial sites personnel. Fundamental problems and methods of its solving

Introduction. The organization of medical assistance for employees of remote industrial facilities is a highly pressing task, and the role of medical evacuation in the health care system can hardly be overestimated. There is currently no unified medical evacuation system. There is no data on the structure of the reasons for evacuations and economic justification for the required amount of funding for this area in Russia. 

Purpose. The assessment of the structure of the reasons for medical evacuations of the personnel from remote industrial facilities and their possible relationship to seasonality, the profile of the enterprises, and the age of workers.

Material and methods. Considering that men constitute most industrial facilities’ personnel, the analysis of 1,823 evacuations among male personnel (1,159 planned and 664 emergencies) was carried out. The structure of the reasons for evacuations was studied depending on the age, season, and industrial enterprise profile. The χ² Pearson criterion (significance level p <0.05) was used to assess the significance of differences between analyzed indices.

Results. In the structure of all evacuations of the personnel of remote industrial facilities, diseases of the circulatory system are the leading reason for evacuations, followed by injuries and poisoning, diseases of the digestive system and respiratory diseases. The main reason for emergency evacuations is injuries and poisoning. In the group of workers under 39 years old, injuries and poisoning, diseases of the digestive system and diseases of the circulatory system take the first three positions. In the more senior age groups, diseases of the circulatory system prevail, injuries and poisoning take second place, and digestive diseases take third place.

Conclusion. The main directions in improving the health care system and maintaining the health of the personnel of remote industrial facilities include the development of the legal framework for activities in the field of remote health care, the organization of the unified state system of medical evacuations, the development and the implementation of telemedicine technologies, the organization of educational courses and training programs for medical professionals in the field of remote health care.

Contribution of the authors:

Karpov A.B. — the concept and the design of the study, writing a text, editing; 

Antipov S.A. — the concept and the design of the study, editing;

Badmaeva E.R. — the collection and processing of the material, collecting and analyzing literature data, writing a text;

Skobelsky A.V. — the collection and processing of the material, editing;

Mazurov R.G. — the collection and processing of the material;

Shibalkov I.P. — the collection and processing of the material, statistical analysis.

All co-authors — approval of the final version of the article, responsibility for the integrity of all parts of the article.

Acknowledgments. The study had no sponsorship.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.