As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its international partners plan for manned interplanetary space exploration missions, the question of how to provide optimum medical care during a long-duration space flight becomes increasingly relevant. A mission beyond low-Earth orbit, especially an expedition to Mars, demands a level of medical autonomy unprecedented for manned space flight. Mission planners must consider that in all the history of human exploration, it has been disease, injury, and the limitations of human physiology that have accounted for more losses than any other factors, including technological failures. Most of the published literature on the subject of the medical requirements for a manned expedition to Mars assumes at least one, if not two, physician-astronaut crewmembers. However, a 2008 NASA ad hoc committee of flight surgeons and space medicine experts observed, "Any additional capability in one area (the medical care system) will require decreased capability in another area." Flying a physician crewmember to Mars implies the exclusion of a crewmember who may possess a greater depth of knowledge or skill in another field such as engineering, geology, or astrophysics. Despite assumptions in the field of space medicine, no study presently exists that quantifies the capabilities of physicians and compares them to the capabilities of persons with lesser levels of medical training with respect to maximizing crew health and well-being on a long-duration, exploration space flight. This paper attempts to answer the following question: what benefits does a mission to Mars gain by including a physician in the crew, and are those benefits essential for crew health and mission success. Is there a medical training level below that of a physician that can meet the needs of the crew while accommodating greater knowledge and skill in another area of expertise.


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    Titel :

    Impact of Medical Training Level on Medical Autonomy for Long-Duration Space Flight


    Beteiligte:
    L. M. Bridge (Autor:in) / S. Watkins (Autor:in)

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2012


    Format / Umfang :

    28 pages


    Medientyp :

    Report


    Format :

    Keine Angabe


    Sprache :

    Englisch




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