Tuesday 22 November 2016

Evidenced based space medicine

Dr John Cherry has developed a brand new medical training curriculum for astronauts going into space.

It is the skills the astronauts are provided with that are new. 

An example of these skills would be ultrasound technology. 

They will be receiving the hands on skills in emergency medicine that they might not have received previously and this time based on the evidence John Cherry’s team gathered in their research.

Breaking new ground

“Before I started this work there was no evidence base behind the training that was provided and so sort of a best guess approach as to what would be good for them to know when it came to being in space. 

What we’ve done is looked at what conditions they might experience or what they might face when they’re in space.” Said Dr John Cherry.

They have used those four variables to create a curriculum that is specifically designed to teach the most important skills an astronauts need in a space medical emergency. 

This is so they will be “as best prepared as possible in the eventuality of an emergency in space”.

A new curriculum

This work is now being adopted by the European Space Agency, and every European Space Agency astronaut will now take this training before going to space.

The research and curriculum is to be unveiled at a conference starting on the 21st of November.

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