[oostevo]

I had a small injury -- just a broken bone in my hand -- on a cruise ship about ten years ago.

There was a doctor and two nurses on duty at the time. The doctor had to be quite resourceful: he checked my vitals, took, developed, and interpreted the x-ray, and then set the broken bone. I gather the doctor(s) onboard also wind up serving as the primary care physician for all of the staff on board, too.

The facilities themselves were quite sparse, and with somewhat dated but still functional equipment. The x-ray used film, after all. He also wound up using a spoon from the dining room as a splint, because the ship didn't seem to stock small splints.

My understanding is that shipboard medicine has advanced considerably since then. Some cursory Googling suggested that ships are routinely equipped with satellite connections to doctors on shore, ecgs, defibrillators, and the like.