Marine Log - March 2009 - (Page 34) BY LINDSAY MALEN ICE CLASS TANKERS DARE TO CARE FOR YOUR CREW ot Fit for Duty” status and repatriations of seafarers caused by illnesses are increasing and far exceed the number of injuries that occur at sea each year. The most common causes of illness-related repatriations among Philippine seafarers are appendicitis, urinary tract stones, hypertension, inguinal hernia, gastritis, gallstones, hemorrhoids, and cardiac disease. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 1% of the Ukrainian population is HIV-infected. This is a cause for concern since the Ukraine yields the third largest population of seafarers in the world. What do all of these medical diagnoses have in common? They can be detected through simple testing prior to the onset of symptoms. Every employer should take the lessons learned from past experiences and statistics and apply them. Future Care, a maritime medical care management firm, has found that a pro-active approach to avoiding illness claims can be accomplished through a detailed PreEmployment Medical Exam (PEME) screening, prior to a seafarer being sent to sea. During the extreme crew shortage, the PEME screening was given a back seat as to its level of importance. It was hard enough to find an experienced Captain let alone a fit one. Now that we are seeing fewer vessels at sea, this is the time to take advantage of the relative increase in the pool of seafarers. This can only be done safely with a more comprehensive PEME which accounts for the various medical factors that come with age, rank, nationality, family history, etc. The standard PEME requirements, set forth by the WHO and ILO guidelines, are extremely basic and only offer a minor differential approach when it comes to crew variables. For example, an ECG (Electrocardiogram) is only required for seafarers 40 years and older, but cardiac disease is not only prominent in men 40 year plus, but in those with “N stressful living/working conditions, and in smokers. 38% of the seafaring community are smokers whose living and working conditions are stressful. In this case, Future Care’s Physician Advisory team suggests an ECG for smokers, and the top ranks, such as Captains, Officers and Engineers, as well as for any crewmember with a family history of cardiac disease. Health is not a static condition. It is always changing, and therefore we must look at illness-related issues both subjectively, on an individual case by case basis, and objectively, reviewing the statistics and past data we have collected as a whole. Future Care provides its vessel owners, ship managers, and respective P&I clubs with an exclusive Caring for the Crew Program. This program is an early intervention medical care management program that offers a 24/7 First Response Medical Call Line for assistance with crewmember medical claims. As a member of Future Care’s program, Future Care’s Physician Advisory team will review the current PEME form utilized by that member and establish a more comprehensive tailored form and system to ensure these exams are accurate. More importantly, Future Care’s team of specialists will review the actual test results as the appropriate reading of the results is most significant. This process then allows Future Care, in collaboration with the vessel owner, to establish a medical record base for that particular crewmember. The current diagnosis and medications utilized by that crewmember are noted in Future Care’s tracking program so that the First Response team and the vessel owner’s operations team will be informed of preexisting conditions and any possible occurrences. All future medical exams, whether a small routine treatment, a vaccination, or hospitalization, are scheduled and monitored through Future Care’s Call Line and tracked in the unique risk management program. Future Care then acts as the consistent medical reference for the seafarers, allowing follow-up through one source and getting to know the seafarers medical histories. Future Care’s medical claims tracking program allows Future Care to pull the statistics of medical claims by individual crewmember, nationality, rank, vessel, type of illness or injury, and Fit for Duty status. This assists with monitoring the vessel-owners, Loss Time Accidents (LTA) rate, and non LTA incidents rate as well as provides statistical comparative data. This program also assists Future Care’s clients with tracking frequent occurrences of medical claims; Future Care can notify the owner of particular types of illnesses or injuries that are reccurring on a particular seafarer who may be having recurring incidences. The claims tracking program allows Future Care to pull the above data for the vessel owner and compare it to Future Care’s pool of vessels enlisted in the program to see how their claims statistics may vary. Therefore, this program 34 MARINE LOG MARCH 2009 www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com
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