Surgeons and astronauts: so close, yet so far apart

McGill journal of medicine : MJM : an international forum for the advancement of medical sciences by students, 2011

ANZ Journal of Surgery, 2002

Clinical and technical skill may not be sufficient to fulfil society's expectations of surgeons. Other skills, which have been well defined in the published literature, include those of the professional, communicator, collaborator, manager, scholar and health advocate. It is the purpose of this review to explore the current understanding of these different domains and make comment about ways to improve training that will ensure that the surgeon of the future has the opportunity to develop broader expertize.

ANZ Journal of Surgery, 2009

The aim of a surgical residency program is to produce competent professionals in a safe and pedagogically efficient environment. For many years, there has been an overemphasis on technical attributes as the fundamental competencies of a trained surgeon. With the advent of new frameworks for defining the outcomes of surgical training, such as CanMeds from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the six competencies outlined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in USA, there has been a broadening of the focus of surgical training. Although technical proficiency is definitely an important prerequisite for a successful outcome, other qualities such as intellectual abilities, personality and communication skills, and a commitment to practice are important elements in the profile of a competent surgeon. Recently, there is a growing appreciation for the heterogeneity in achievement of technical competence among our trainees, with some residents abl...

Aviation, space, and environmental medicine, 2006

ERNST RD. Medical qualification of a commercial spaceflight participant: not your average astronaut. Aviat Space Environ Med 2006; 77:475-84.

Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2009

Surgery and aviation have many similarities. Both disciplines have made the extraordinary ordinary – involving teams of specialists using expensive equipment to perform previously unimaginable tasks in life-threatening situations. But perhaps what is most miraculous about these two astonishing human endeavours is not what they entail, but rather how frequently they occur. On any one day, an estimated 85,000 flights and 550,000 operations are completed worldwide. What are the implications of scaling up life-or-death events to such astronomical levels? One consequence of such large throughputs is that even tiny risks are magnified. If even a small percentage of patients and passengers die, this amounts to a significant number of families affected by preventable deaths. Every year around 500 people die in aviation accidents, and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that a staggering 1 million people die in the perioperative period, many due to avoidable mistakes. So, what is being done to minimize these risks?

2012

Military Medicine

Introduction The U.S. Navy routinely deploys aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships throughout the world in support of U.S. strategic interests, each with an embarked single surgeon team. Surgeons and their teams are required to participate in lengthy pre-deployment shipboard certifications before each deployment. Given the well-established relationship of surgeon volume to patient outcome, we aim to compare the impact of land vs. maritime deployments on Navy general surgeon practice patterns. Materials and Methods Case logs and pre-deployment training initiation of land-based (n = 8) vs. maritime-based (n = 7) U.S. Navy general surgeons over a 3-year period (2017-2020) were compared. Average cases per week were plotted over 26 weeks before deployment. Student’s t-test was utilized for all comparisons. Results Cases declined for both groups in the weeks before deployment. At 6 months (26 weeks) before deployment, land-based surgeons performed significantly more cases than th...

The American Journal of Surgery, 2003

Surgical education is in the process of tumultuous change. Mastering this change will require a new set of competencies and a new understanding of the medical education process. While accreditation agencies are rapidly working to define the new criteria and benchmarks, training programs are quickly pulling together curricula, objectives, and evaluation tools. Yet much has already been learned in other complex, high-risk activities. Blue water sailing, ocean racing, and transAtlantic crossing are all activities that require a renewed form of leadership and an understanding of how knowledge, skill, and behavior come together to define the competent sailor. Ideas learned in such endeavors may assist the surgical educator in defining the horizons and the hazards of this uncharted voyage.

Journal of Surgical Education, 2007

Acta Astronautica, 2008

A survey was submitted to all active members of the US Astronaut Corps to determine their opinions on the need for and qualifications of a crew medical officer (CMO) for a mission to Mars. The majority of respondents felt that health problems will occur during such a mission and that if there are more than four crewmembers, a physician should be included. Responses favored a physician with 4-6 years clinical experience, and a second CMO with paramedic-level training. Extensive training in emergency medicine, aerospace medicine, and internal medicine was considered desirable for a physician CMO, with more limited training in surgery, psychiatry, gynecology, dentistry, and other fields, as well as training in space analog environments on Earth. The astronauts felt that a physician would spend most of the his/her time, both during training and during the mission, in non-medical duties and must be fully capable of contributing other essential skills to the team.