Volume 5, Number 3     May/June 1997

  Telemedicine

Advanced Technology		Applications		Terrestrial Benefits

Strategic Direction

ASA RECENTLY RELEASED ITS Integrated Strategic Program Plan (ISPP) for Telemedicine: Advanced Information Technologies for Health Care. It outlines the Agency's commitment to enhancing its capability to provide medical care in support of human space flight and the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) Enterprise and to leverage information systems and telecommunications technologies for health care. The Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications at NASA Headquarters directed the plan's creation with input from the NASA Field Centers, the National Technology Transfer Center and the Regional Technology Transfer Centers.

The plan recognizes that the primary purpose of NASA's telemedicine initiative is to enhance the health and well-being of astronauts during space flight. However, it underscores the need to apply telemedicine technologies to aid patients who have little or no access to medical care on Earth. The ISPP states:

The application of telemedicine has permitted NASA to monitor the physiological and medical impact of space flight on astronauts. As mission profiles increase in duration, complexity, and distance from the Earth, health care systems for space flight will be enhanced to meet these challenges, including the integration of telemedicine technologies. The application of NASA technology on a global scale will help build a better future for all of humanity.

The ISSP for Telemedicine:

• Promotes the use of advanced technology in the space program and the integration of telemedicine into the National Information Infrastructure and the Global Information Infrastructure
• Clarifies and articulates NASA's role in the development of telemedicine technologies and telemedicine applications
• Establishes a process through the creation of a Commercial Space Center for medical informatics and technology with academia and industry for enabling partnerships, evaluating emerging technologies, conducting testbeds and supporting the infusion of technology into space flight applications
• Promotes strategic directions in support of the goals of NASA's HEDS Enterprise
• Creates a basis for collaborations with industry and academia in the development of telemedicine and associated technologies through the exchange of ideas and shared technologies
• Creates a platform for encouraging the development of innovative technologies for health care delivery through the incorporation of NASA technologies
• Uses the International Space Station as a testbed for evaluating emerging technologies

The ISSP's strategies are:

• Develop and adapt revolutionary sensor, telecommunications, information and human-machine interface technologies that have the potential to enhance health care systems for human space flight
• Apply appropriate new health care systems technologies in direct support of human exploration and the development of space
• Develop and promote appropriate, cost-effective applications of new telemedicine and integrated health care technologies to make health care more accessible worldwide

The plan outlines the approaches and tasks necessary to execute each of these strategies.

For more information, contact Charles Doarn at NASA Headquarters.
Call 202/358-0821, Fax 202/358-3038, E-mail: cdoarn@hq.nasa.gov
Or visit: http://www.it.hq.nasa.gov/~kmorgan/telemed_blue/welcome.html
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.