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Performance Support Tools for Space Medical OperationsThe early Constellation space missions are expected to have medical capabilities very similar to those currently on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS). For Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) missions to ISS, medical equipment will be located on ISS, and carried into CEV in the event of an emergency. Flight Surgeons (FS) on the ground in Mission Control will be expected to direct the Crew Medical Officer (CMO) during medical situations. If there is a loss of signal and the crew is unable to communicate with the ground, a CMO would be expected to carry out medical procedures without the aid of a FS. In these situations, performance support tools can be used to reduce errors and time to perform emergency medical tasks. Human factors personnel at Johnson Space Center have recently investigated medical performance support tools for CMOs on-orbit, and FSs on the ground. This area of research involved the feasibility of Just-in-time (JIT) training techniques and concepts for real-time medical procedures. In Phase 1, preliminary feasibility data was gathered for two types of prototype display technologies: a hand-held PDA, and a Head Mounted Display (HMD). The PDA and HMD were compared while performing a simulated medical procedure using ISS flight-like medical equipment. Based on the outcome of Phase 1, including data on user preferences, further testing was completed using the PDA only. Phase 2 explored a wrist-mounted PDA, and compared it to a paper cue card. For each phase, time to complete procedures, errors, and user satisfaction were captured. Information needed by the FS during ISS mission support, especially for an emergency situation (e.g. fire onboard ISS), may be located in many different places around the FS s console. A performance support tool prototype is being developed to address this issue by bringing all of the relevant information together in one place. The tool is designed to include procedures and other information needed by a FS during an emergency, as well as procedures and information to be used after the emergency is resolved. Several walkthroughs of the prototype with FSs have been completed within a mockup of an ISS FS console. Feedback on the current tool design as well as recommendations for existing ISS FS displays were captured.
Document ID
20090038905
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Byrne, Vicky E.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Schmidt, Josef
(Wyle Labs., Inc. Houston, TX, United States)
Barshi, Immanuel
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2009
Subject Category
Aerospace Medicine
Report/Patent Number
JSC-CN-19205
Meeting Information
Meeting: 81st Annual Scientific Meeting of the Aerospace Medical Association
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Country: United States
Start Date: May 9, 2010
End Date: May 13, 2010
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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