[Wanted] Medical Emergencies During Spaceflight

[EAS_Intrepid]

Hi!

While reading through wikipedia articles about the manned space programs of our tiny blue planet, I had begun wondering about Medical Emergencies in space. Of course I tried to find some info about it through wikipedia and the NASA website immediately, but until now I haven't found anything that was really satisfying for someone with a bit of medical knowledge.

Most articles throw trauma (injury) and non-surgical incidents (disease) in one box and shake it good. Basically speaking, these are the two big fields for a Paramedic to venture into.


Now I am interested in how things are done in space. I know that spaceflight and zero-g-environments have certain effects on the human body like nausea, sleeplessness, etc etc.
But I want to look into the Emergency Medical part of it. Where someone is not just feeling a bit off - but maybe in a life-threatening condition or in need of surgical attention.

1. Does anyone know of any books, pdfs, websites or the like which might be interesting in this field?
2. What would be done? How would it be done? How are the crews trained (first aid-course, EMT-B, Paramedic, Nurse, MD, etc pp?) ?
3. Which cases of trauma occured and how did the crew handle it?

Maybe one of you guys knows something about it.
Or we can get a nice discussion rolling

Stay safe, on or off-planet!
EA


BTW: I would advise against asking for Dr Beverly Crusher for help. She's shocking flatlines with a "cortical stimulator" "attached" to the "frontal lobe" - as if that part of the brain has anything to do with a heart rhythm......

 

[Hellkite]

It's really no should be no different than standards found Aerospace Medicine Primary (AMP) Course in the USAF.

In short it all about preventive care for the most part

Intrepid if you want I can get you a pdf of the cores' TMs

 

[CABAL]

This page has a ton of PDFs outlining what to do in pretty much any medical situation on the ISS. It covers subjects from using a pregnancy test in zero G to dealing with a collapsed lung.

 

[EAS_Intrepid]

It's really no should be no different than standards found Aerospace Medicine Primary (AMP) Course in the USAF.

In short it all about preventive care for the most part

Intrepid if you want I can get you a pdf of the cores' TMs

I'd look forward to read. If you don't want to post it here you know how to PM me

This page has a ton of PDFs outlining what to do in pretty much any medical situation on the ISS. It covers subjects from using a pregnancy test in zero G to dealing with a collapsed lung.

Thanks for the link, CABAL! Very interesting.

Probalbly - and sadly - I will never go to space myself and provide my best medical knowledge "up there" but the one thing I would really like to have is Dr. Crusher's medical tricorder.

Small anecdote:
A patient of mine was under the influence of something like LSD or magic mushrooms or the like. I do not condemn that, people do it, they freak out, guys like me come in, end of story.
That guy was a huge Star Trek fan. I could tell from the life-size paper Captain Kirk (TOS!) in his living room.
He was peaceful and all so no need to call for Police back-up.
While rested on the stretcher in our ambulance, I could not resist the urge to take the small gear used for measuring oxygen level in his blood (which happens to nearly look like a standard medical Starfleet tricorder) and "scan" him from head to toe. His reaction "Wow, you can do that?
We got along well, from one Trekkie to another!