Assistance medicine, a novel discipline of emergency medicine

Abstract

The number of international travels has been continuously increasing since World War II. Though the travelers' demand for safer ways of travelling appeared, only a handful of them sought pretravel advices. This is the reason why 50% of the travelers have to face some kind of medical problem during their journey. If they have travel insurance, the company's assistance team organizes, monitors and covers their abroad treatment. A doctor of the assistance team has to find her/his ways in various fields: not only a multidisciplinary medical knowledge is a must for a professional like this, but she/he needs to have a good grasp of the basic idea behind the insurance policy, too. Also, she/he should be familiar with the public health care systems of different countries and some legal knowledge is also needed. If the patients are unable to continue their trip, they must be repatriated. Making a decision about the repatriation's timing and modality requires interdisciplinary medical experience and the approach of a critical care/emergency doctor. Among further tasks for the assistance team's doctor one can find medical escort and on-spot medical visit for foreign patients. Both of these two aforementioned medical activities are highly different from - for example - a general practitioner's routine. That is the reason why an assistance doctor has to be familiar with the critical and emergency care. Organizing and monitoring medical treatment for a traveler abroad, providing medical escort, making decisions about repatriation and providing medical help for a foreign patient all fall within the competence of a new medical discipline, the assistance medicine. Creating a body of knowledge, collecting appropriate protocols and establishing postgraduate courses for assistance medicine diplomas are the tasks of the critical care and emergency medicine professionals.