Aerospace Medicine for Pre-Meds

[Siverhideo1985]

I'm interested in aerospace medicine (stemming from my interest in space/flight & medicine) but just recently discovered that this was actually a possible field to go into.

Does anyone have any experience with this field at the pre-med level or is this something to get into during med school? residency?

Thoughts, advice, experiences, anecdotes...all are welcome.

And keep the thread clean, please...I don't see how this topic could deteriorate, but you never know.

P.S.: This will sound like I am 3 years old, but do you think they will have physicians up there when they establish the first moon bases for eventual mars missions? Haha...

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[AZFutureDoc]

You mean medicine for astronauts, pilots, etc...? I have actually never heard of this.

 

[Siverhideo1985]

You mean medicine for astronauts, pilots, etc...? I have actually never heard of this.

As I understand it, it has everything to do with medicine & physiology when it is not at groundlevel (i.e. flight, space station, etc.)

There is a aerospace medical association even.

 

[Siverhideo1985]

http://www.asma.org/aboutasma/careers.php

for interested people.

 

[ICmyFuture]

I know my (future)med school UTMB galveston has a program that deals with this, might be something you can look into if you haven't applied to schools yet

 

[starfishprime]

P.S.: This will sound like I am 3 years old, but do you think they will have physicians up there when they establish the first moon bases for eventual mars missions? Haha...

Yes.

I don't think the path to aerospace med is any different than the path to IM or surgery or dermatology for a pre-med. Take your pre-reqs, get accepted, etc. Perhaps, given your interest, considering the military might be warranted. I say that because I am uncertain of the residency and beyond opportunities in the private sector, though the AF definitely has aerospace residencies.

 

[Ntyeller]

There's not much at the premed level, unless you want to shadow an Aerospace Med doctor. There are many physicians who are FAA medical examiners and provide physical exams to pilots: try looking some up in your neighborhood. Practicing in Aerospace Medicine requires (or used to require) getting an MPH, typically during the 1st year of residency, then specializing in Preventive Medicine. You can do civilian or military residencies (Wright State, Wright-Patterson AFB, UT-Galveston all have programs). If you live near Houston, TX or Cape Canaveral, FL, you could try cold-calling physicians who work at NASA and speak with them about premed opportunities. It might help you to learn to fly, too - that'll give you a sense of what your patients are experiencing in the cockpit. Good luck!

 

[Siverhideo1985]

There's not much at the premed level, unless you want to shadow an Aerospace Med doctor. There are many physicians who are FAA medical examiners and provide physical exams to pilots: try looking some up in your neighborhood. Practicing in Aerospace Medicine requires (or used to require) getting an MPH, typically during the 1st year of residency, then specializing in Preventive Medicine. You can do civilian or military residencies (Wright State, Wright-Patterson AFB, UT-Galveston all have programs). If you live near Houston, TX or Cape Canaveral, FL, you could try cold-calling physicians who work at NASA and speak with them about premed opportunities. It might help you to learn to fly, too - that'll give you a sense of what your patients are experiencing in the cockpit. Good luck!

Excellent info Thanks!

 

[phospho]

I'm interested in aerospace medicine (stemming from my interest in space/flight & medicine) but just recently discovered that this was actually a possible field to go into.

Does anyone have any experience with this field at the pre-med level or is this something to get into during med school? residency?

Thoughts, advice, experiences, anecdotes...all are welcome.

And keep the thread clean, please...I don't see how this topic could deteriorate, but you never know.

P.S.: This will sound like I am 3 years old, but do you think they will have physicians up there when they establish the first moon bases for eventual mars missions? Haha...

definitely look into wright state... i've heard very good things about it...

http://www.med.wright.edu/asm/

 

[Tots]

Not really pre-med but the Air Force has opportunities in aerospace medicine:

http://www.airforce.com/opportunities/healthcare/careers/physician/aerospace-medicine/

Some detailed information about aerospace medicine for the air force in their attached documents. What sounded cool when I looked into the idea some time ago was:

"As a flight surgeon, it’s part of your to job fly.
Depending on your squadron’s aircraft, you may
experience Mach 2 in an F-15 Eagle, or work aboard
a KC-135 during a midair-refueling mission."

 

[Dral]

Haha, flight surgeon. That's so bad-ass. Go up to someone at a bar "Uh, yeah, I'm a flight surgeon. I fly Mach 2 in an F-15 Eagle and work aboard a KC-135...but right now, I wanna work aboard you."

Cool field. Good luck to you.

 

[docontheroc]

NASA actually takes a fair amount of physicians in its civilian astronaut program

http://nasajobs.nasa.gov/astronauts/content/broch00.htm

many pursue regular careers (ie ortho surg, http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/ascan_bio_satcher.html) and then apply to the program later on. this would be sooo sweet.

 

[beachblonde]

Flight surgeons are pretty much glorified GPs.

I knew a kid who once though that being a flight surgeon meant that you got to perform surgeries while on airplanes. He was crushed when the Air Force recruiter said, "um, well, they're actually primary care physicians...on the ground."

I'm not saying that they don't get special training, but I get the impression they spend most of their time making sure pilots are well enough to fly. The job isn't nearly as cool as the name would imply.

 

[Siverhideo1985]

Flight surgeons are pretty much glorified GPs.

I knew a kid who once though that being a flight surgeon meant that you got to perform surgeries while on airplanes. He was crushed when the Air Force recruiter said, "um, well, they're actually primary care physicians...on the ground."

I'm not saying that they don't get special training, but I get the impression they spend most of their time making sure pilots are well enough to fly. The job isn't nearly as cool as the name would imply.

Haha true. But then again, I fee like a lot of specialties are hyped by media-induced image.

 

[starfishprime]

I'm not saying that they don't get special training, but I get the impression they spend most of their time making sure pilots are well enough to fly. The job isn't nearly as cool as the name would imply.

Flight surgeons are rated flight officers and are expected to fly a certain minimum number of hours monthly. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing flight surgeons are trained on the specific aircraft of their squadron, so it might be possible to be half-GP half-fighter pilot. That'd be cool as hell.

 

[deuist]

A good source of information would be the military forum here on SDN. In general, flight surgeons are general practitioners for pilots. While they will spend one day a week in the air, they are not licensed pilots and the field has nothing to do with surgery. It's painfully boring work most of the time and a waste of all that medical education from medical school. In the Air Force, it is so unpopular that the majority of flight surgeons are forced into the field and count down the days until their commitment is up.

(As a disclaimer, I'm in the Air Force and will very likely be forced into flight med.)

 

[SirGecko]

The Navy has flight surgeons too. Check out the milmed forum.

 

[tibuan]

Sooner or later, most physicians who travel on airlines eventually hear the overhead call from a flight attendant, "Are there any doctors on board?" This brief review of aerospace medical principles will help physicians respond with confidence to this call. Familiarity helps physicians effectively assist and integrate with specialists during preflight operations during mass air evacuations following large-scale natural or manmade disasters. Aerospace medicine is a subdiscipline of preventive and emergency medicine that ties together physics, life support, and medicine to protect aircrew and patients in the realm of aerospace.

The ambient environment quickly becomes hostile to humans with increasing altitude. From the earliest physiologic observations of balloonists in the 1700s to Paul Bert's altitude chamber experiments in 1878 to the latest reports and lessons from the latest 2008 reports from the US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, our understanding of aerospace medicine has advanced exponentially. The US led War in Iraq and recent hurricanes and earthquakes have necessitated rapid advances in the technology and strategies available to rapidly evacuate critically wounded soldiers and large numbers of nonambulatory patients.

As it has for the last 300 years, the evolution of aerospace medicine parallels and limits our development of faster, larger capacity or higher flying aerospace vehicles. In daily practice, emergency physicians are often confronted with aeromedical transport issues and occasionally deal with more esoteric aerospace medicine problems. Here are some recent observations:

• Emergency departments (EDs) are encountering increased numbers of aeromedical evacuation sorties—frequently coordinated as ED-to-ED transfers.
• Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel are frequently among the first to arrive at aircraft crash sites.
• Large-scale evacuations are often hampered when health care workers do not understand the principles of air evacuation.
• Air sickness is extremely common and can be catastrophic during patient transport.
• Patients often ask physicians, "Is it safe for me to fly?"
• Off-duty physicians often feel compelled to assist fellow air travelers and respond to in-flight medical problems.
• EDs often receive travelers who have medical problems following long airline flights.

These common problems mandate a basic orientation to aerospace medicine among all emergency physicians. The unifying goal of this medical subdiscipline is the optimization of the health and safety of crew, passengers, and airlifted patients before, during, and after aerospace travel. This article provides emergency medicine practitioners with a brief overview of aerospace physiological principles and considerations.


Source: eMedicine




aerospace medicine

 

[caniac]

I looked into aerospace med when I did AFROTC--shadowed some flight surgeons and aerospace physiologists on base.

Though there's a need for Flight Surgeons in the military, there's no real place to go in the civilian world after you've retired. My pilot relatives take 1 physical per year from a flight surgeon...when I had to get my FAA health cert I went to a flight surgeon...When I have to get a new DODMERB check for HPSP and USUHS, I might see one...that's about it.

Aerospace physiology is AMAZING if you're looking to go the phd route (though most mil opportunities here involve training officers in pilot training).

 

[delicatefew24]

In the Navy you can do a tour as a flight surgeon after your intern year. Its just a primary care doc for the airwing with training in "aviation medicine" but they also have to have a certain number of flight hours which is cool.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/stseducation/stories/Powers_Roden_Profile.html astronaut flight surgeon?

I think joining the military would be the best idea if you want to get out there!

 

[straubest]

In the Navy you can do a tour as a flight surgeon after your intern year. Its just a primary care doc for the airwing with training in "aviation medicine" but they also have to have a certain number of flight hours which is cool.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/stseducation/stories/Powers_Roden_Profile.html astronaut flight surgeon?

I think joining the military would be the best idea if you want to get out there!

I have been interested in doing military aerospace medicine and researched it fairly extensively. As a flight surgeon you are supposed to spend your time 50/50 as a primary doc and with flight RESPONSIBILITIES. These responsibilities include training, briefing, flying and other general prep. I think the minimum is something like 4 hours per month but often one can fly more. However, one thing to note is that you are never the pilot in command. you will always fly with a rated pilot who may or may not give you stick control while in the air.

as stated, after one year of interning you then are a flight surgeon. after a few years you enter a 3 year program giving you the aerospace medicine, an MPH, and a board certification in occupational medicine. however after completion of the 3 year program you are encouraged to move on from flight surgeon.

for one like me who would be happy as a flight surgeon but after military service would like a much different specialty, the military will rarely grant access to the flight surgeon program if you have already completed a residency in a different specialty; they would just put you in that specialty.

for one looking to fly more or specialize in something different, there are two other paths. you can either attend the pilot training program, "earn your wings" and then attend medical school. Your commitment length will be pretty long but you will be a pilot and a physician.

Another, more attractive offer for someone like me is to go through the reserves. they offer aerospace medicine. However, because the required time of service each year is minimal you can still pursue other things such as a civilian specialty. Likewise, you can train as a civilian physician and enter the reserves as a pilot so long as you complete the training course which i believe is 52 weeks; truly the best of both worlds.

oh and flight surgeons are a major path to becoming an astronaut, which is no promise of doing anything except training really hard to watch others go to space.

most of this information is from military forums and websites though as i have no direct experience with the programs at all.

 

[acridknight]

I'm interested in aerospace medicine (stemming from my interest in space/flight & medicine) but just recently discovered that this was actually a possible field to go into.

Does anyone have any experience with this field at the pre-med level or is this something to get into during med school? residency?

Thoughts, advice, experiences, anecdotes...all are welcome.

And keep the thread clean, please...I don't see how this topic could deteriorate, but you never know.

P.S.: This will sound like I am 3 years old, but do you think they will have physicians up there when they establish the first moon bases for eventual mars missions? Haha...

don't forget that as a (traveling/ flying) physician, you'd have the same pitfalls as current pilots for airlines -- particularly a roaming lifestyle with the potential to be away from your family for long periods of time (which is a major influence on our high divorce rate).

 

[scattun]

My dad is a flight surgeon in the Air Force reserve. Feel free to PM me with any specific questions you may have. In general, pretty much all they do is primary care for the various flight personal in his unit or wing or whatever. Lots of grounding and flight wavers because of physical conditions, mental conditions, and medications. He is actually in an air refueling wing, so he flies in the KC-135's all the time. When flying, the flight surgeons are considered full members of the air crew as in they go to the briefings and check the aircraft and have to wear the flight equipment that passengers don't. However as someone said, they are never the aircraft commanders, even if they are the highest ranking officer on board. Also, like someone said, they can actually fly the plane depending on the whims of the commander. All he had to do for this gig, was complete his civilian residency (in emergency medicine, fwiw) and then go to flight surgeon school. I think it was like 12 weeks. Anyway, he doesn't have an MPH and didn't do a preventative medicine residency, and neither did any of the docs in his squadron, so they are not necessary if you want to do aerospace medicine in the reserves (he was also Chief of Aerospace Medicine, in his squadron, so not having done them, doesn't limit you advancement at all either).

If you ask me, the cooler air/medicine missions are the Critical Care Air-transport Teams. The transport critical patients from medical facilities closer to the battlefied to more advanced facilities farther away. Here is an article on it for anyone interested. For that, the requirement are more restricted, I think you have to be EM or CCM certified/eligible and then go to training course, I think it was 4 weeks.

Anyway, my dad has operated in both these capacities and if anyway is interested they can PM me and I will give you his email address so you can ask him your questions directly.