What is Aviation Medicine?

MEDEVAC.FLIGHTS provides emergency evacuations throughout Australia, the Pacific, Asia, and further afield, for people who are seriously ill or injured and require specialist urgent medical attention. As such all our doctors and nurses are highly trained in hospital settings, with additional studies in aviation medicine.

What is aviation medicine?

Aviation medicine is a unique field and is concerned with the interaction between the aviation environment and human physiological and psychological systems. Aviation medicine and aeromedical retrieval are concerned primarily with the transport of patients via a properly managed aeromedical evacuation system. It is concerned with the physiological stresses experienced by a healthy person in flight, and the interaction between the aviation environment and underlying health problems. The emergency transport of patients critically ill or injured patients by fixed-wing medically equipped jet aircraft presents specialised aviation considerations. MEDEVAC.FLIGHTS provides expert medical team, trained to specifically deal with the unique challenges aviation medicine present. 

The Aeromedical environment is often a very challenging place to work. There are several factors the clinician must take into consideration when delivering care for a patient in such an environment.

The clinicians have specialised knowledge of altitude and aeromedical related considerations and pair this with advanced clinical practice developed in the hospital setting to deliver expert care to our patients. The aeromedical environment often presents very different challenges and considerations to that of the hospital environment. We always fly with an advanced care doctor and senior nurse, with the ability to bring on additional nursing staff for specialised care.

Challenges unique to the aviation environment that need to be addressed by clinicians include; changes in atmospheric pressure and oxygen levels during air travel, which not only affect the patients physiologically but also how the equipment and monitoring respond to such changes. Small considerations such as the cabin air conditioning and positioning of the patient can play a large part in patient care on aeromedical missions. Therefore, flight doctors and nurses must have a broad understanding of medicine and the patient’s condition and plan for how this changes within the aeromedical environment.