This is the first major textbook on the emerging speciality of remote medicine. The modern concept emerged in the 1970s when the medical directors of the main oil companies operating in the North Sea — BP, Shell and Mobil — sought advice from the University sector since the morbidity and mortality levels of offshore workers had become unacceptable. A system of healthcare was jointly developed and applied by the industrial doctors and the academic doctors of Aberdeen University which worked well and greatly improved the healthcare of the offshore personnel. It was subsequently validated by duplication for the very different scientific population of the British Antarctic Survey where it worked even better. It was next introduced to the oilfields of the Middle East — Qatar (QGPC, Offshore and Onshore), Abu Dhabi (ADMA and ADCO) and Oman (PDO) where it worked equally well. The Aberdeen Universities next collaborated with the UAE University in Abu Dhabi to evaluate and develop telemedicine mainly in the area of education and research and they established early transcontinental courses and conferences together with joint supervision and production of higher degrees between collaborating universities in different parts of the world.The recently established International Remote Healthcare Association (IRHCA), backed by the University of Glasgow, the UAE University in Abu Dhabi and the Siberian State Medical University has established an ongoing study to determine the education and skills required to produce a competent Remote Healthcare Practitioner. The chapters in this book contain the knowledge base currently thought by the IRHCA to be necessary to produce a competent remote healthcare practitioners and thus to allow curricular development of the new courses necessary for the establishment of University qualifications and for the regulating authorities to design examinations and establish appropriate registration. Since this is a new speciality the continuing research of the IRHCA is necessary to act as an audit to ensure that the information in the book, and the courses derived from it remain relevant and also to detect omissions as they are recognised.
