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World Extreme Medicine PodcastAuthor: World Extreme Medicine
Were committed to ensuring extreme medicine education can reach all medical, healthcare and supporting professionals working in austere environments. With regular updates, our team brings you the latest from across the broad spectrum of extreme medicine disciplines, including expedition, space, remote, pre-hospital and humanitarian medicine as well as a range of topics across performance and non-technical skills. Enhance your ability to tackle challenges with new skills you can take home or out into the field. Push the boundaries of your medical career! Language: en-us Genres: Education Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Revolutionising Rural Healthcare: Inside Australia’s First Virtual Emergency Centre
Tuesday, 2 September, 2025
In this episode of the World Extreme Medicine Podcast, host Eoin Walker speaks with Mardi Steere, Executive General Manager of Medical and Retrieval Services at the Royal Flying Doctor Service, about a groundbreaking innovation in rural healthcare delivery, the Virtual Emergency Centre (VEC).Operating in one of the most remote regions of Australia, the VEC integrates telehealth, remote diagnostics, and trained layperson intervention to deliver hospital-grade care in areas where no medical staff are physically present. Mardi shares the origins of the project, the role of technology like Starlink and wearables, and how the model is saving lives and reducing retrieval costs.We discuss the governance and logistics behind delivering high-risk medications remotely, the scalability of the model, and how learnings from Africa, India, and Rwanda are being adapted to suit Australia’s unique geographical challenges. Mardi also reflects on the future of healthcare innovation, from drone-delivered AEDs to virtual ultrasonography and beyond.Learn more about the VEC and the work of the Royal Flying Doctor Service: https://www.flyingdoctor.org.au
