Aerospace medicine is a specialty that focuses on the health of air and space vehicle crews and passengers, as well as the people who support the operation of those vehicles. Unlike most physicians who evaluate and care for people with abnormal illnesses in terrestrial environments, aerospace medicine specialists evaluate and help healthy people with abnormal physiology to function optimally in remote, isolated, non-terrestrial environments. extreme or closed under physical and psychological conditions of stress.
Just as the United States has NASA, our country has its similar counterpart. The Mexican Space Agency (see here) is a decentralized public body of the Federal Government and sectorized in the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation. The AEM together with the prestigious Mexican Academy of Medicine, launched a book focused entirely on space medicine and it is unique in its kind, since it is the most complete text on this subject in our country and perhaps in Latin America.
Aerospace Medicine is unique among medical specialties due to the physical characteristics of the environment in which the flight takes place, the need to ensure that passengers are fit to fly, the need to optimize the health, safety of the crew and passengers on the flight. Aerospace environmental stressors that affect humans include hypoxia, reduced atmospheric pressure, extreme temperatures, brief and sustained acceleration, ionizing radiation, and microgravity.
The Department of Physiology at UNAM mentions that in terms of space, NASA’s Human Research Program, like various international space agencies, have divided the great dangers that humans will face on a flight into five categories. long-term space travel whether on a trip to the Moon, Mars, or another destination. The UNAM Faculty of Medicine offers its third and fourth year students the optional subject of Aerospace Medicine and Physiology.
Aerospace physicians are often trained in multiple disciplines, such as internal medicine, family medicine, emergency medicine, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, and psychology. With five accredited residency programs in the United States, space medicine is an attractive career option for physicians who want to practice preventive or occupational medicine with unique challenges.
Space wreaks serious havoc on bones, muscles, organs, eyes, and ears, which can lead to bone loss, muscle loss, reduced heart function, and blindness.
Also, doctors consult with engineers to develop the right equipment to promote safety once people take off.
Hundreds of thousands of miles from the nearest hospital, space doctors will need advanced medical technology: miniaturized devices to perform minimally invasive surgeries; robot helpers with steady hands; intelligent medical systems that can diagnose and perhaps even treat illnesses as well as telemedicine capabilities that will allow the ship’s medical director to consult with experts on Earth.
The technologies needed for long-term exploration of the solar system are similar to those needed to provide quality medical care to an isolated rural community. Many of these capabilities already exist, at least in some early form. But researchers want to make them smaller, lighter, more energy efficient, smarter and more effective.
victor.andradeca@anahuac.mx
* The author is a medical researcher of the Science Prevents Violence movement, an initiative of the Anahuac Public Health Institute, Anahuac University of Mexico.
