space station freedom
the next step in our continuing effort
to explore beyond earth's boundaries
as we establish a permanent presence in
space
new medical challenges will have to be
met
with longer missions
larger cruise
and the complexities of a medical rescue
the health of freedom's international
crew will be essential for the success
of this program
the crew health care system
or checks is currently being designed
and developed primarily at nasa's
johnson space center
distributed throughout the space station
this system will provide the total
spectrum of crew health healthcare with
three distinct but interconnected
components
the exercise countermeasures facility
the environmental health system
and the health maintenance facility
following is a description of the health
maintenance facility or hmf component
the hmf will provide necessary in-flight
medical care including prevention
diagnosis
treatment
and care during transport if the patient
must be evacuated
in building the hmf current off the
shelf equipment will be used as much as
possible
however existing technology must be
adapted in order to operate in
microgravity
and conform to space station weight and
size constraints
the
kc-135 provides a testing environment
for equipment and procedures to be used
in space
using a parabolic flight path the kc-135
can simulate weightlessness for a few
valuable seconds
here a prototype of the patient
restraint system is analyzed
this piece of equipment must be both
flexible and portable
on space station it will be used as a
stretcher
a treatment area
a dental chair
and an x-ray table
the health maintenance facility has been
divided into flight subsystems as well
as ground support
these subsystems are similar to the
medical services found in a large
hospital
for example the hmf will be designed to
provide emergency medical care for
injuries
medical life support with patient
monitoring capabilities
respiratory support
intravenous or iv fluid and nutritional
support
a variety of physicians instruments
imaging for diagnostics and therapeutic
procedures
a clinical laboratory to provide tests
and analysis in areas such as
microbiology
a pharmacy containing necessary
medications and a computerized inventory
control system
central supply
and a hyperbaric facility for treatment
of decompression sickness
although each of these capabilities will
be needed on space station freedom
it isn't feasible to launch a large
hospital facility into orbit
as a result the entire health
maintenance facility must be designed to
fit into a very limited space
in a hospital a large staff of highly
trained professionals provides health
care services
the space station will not have those
resources
because of limited medical personnel the
hmf equipment will be user friendly and
easily maintained
in order to provide maximum flexibility
the hmf will have a modular design
each piece of equipment will be
self-contained and will be held in
standard space station equipment racks
unlike a hospital with its mounds of
forms and stacks of paper
the hmf will use freedom's computer
resources to integrate all the
information from each sub-system
dr james logan of nasa headquarters
explains this innovative approach
one of the things that we're developing
at johnson space center is a concept
known as the medical information bus or
mib
the mib would enable all the medical
devices on the health maintenance
facility to not only interact with each
other but also interact with the hmf
computer
additional things that would be housed
in the health maintenance facility
computer would be things like diagnostic
and treatment protocols or inventory
management for the hmf
if there was an illness on board the
space station after the crew medical
officer did a diagnostic physical exam
he would enter the results of that
physical exam on a keyboard which would
put those results in an electronic
medical record
however all the laboratory data and the
radiographic data and the
electrophysiologic data such as an
electrocardiogram would automatically be
entered into an electronic medical
record this is the mission control
center in houston texas this is the
nerve center for the entire mission the
flight director and all the flight
controllers stay in this room throughout
the duration of the mission
this is also where the mission surgeon
sits
after the crew medical officer on the
space station gathers all the medical
data and the data is
collated by the medical information bus
that information is down linked to the
earth and reconstructed at this console
here in mission control
when the information is reconstructed
the mission surgeon has to make several
key decisions
the first decision here she would have
to make is whether or not to activate a
group of consultants which would be
other physicians and surgeons located
all across the country
to have them actually look at the data
with him or her
the next decision that the doctor would
have to make is whether or not the
medical condition can be treated
definitively at the hmf onboard the
space station or whether a rescue needs
to be even considered
it becomes obvious then when you
consider the mission and the cost of
medical rescue that one of the prime
goals of having a health maintenance
facility on board the space station is
to be able to treat as many medical
conditions as possible in flight without
having a rescue
on previous space flights there was
nothing comparable to the hmf
during those missions the need for
in-flight health care was not as great
as it will be on space station freedom
as part of the crew healthcare system
the health maintenance facility will
provide a necessary tool in maintaining
the crew's health as we begin to live
and work in space for longer
and longer periods of time