The US Air Force recently held a training session for flight personnel using a portable hyperbaric chamber.
Flight medicine technicians and refueling aircraft boom handlers at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska simulated an emergency transport of a patient that needed oxygen therapy via the Hyperlite 1 hyperbaric chamber.
Lt. Col. Pablo Medina, the Medical Director of the Air Force’s Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Program, said:
“The hyperbaric chamber at Eielson is the only one in the region. Decompression sickness and air gas embolism are the two conditions you worry about from an operational standpoint. The big concern is exposing jumpers, flyers, and divers to pressure differentials. Those are the conditions we would put someone in this particular chamber.”
Scenarios in the training session included recognizing DCS and AGE, patient evaluation, setting the chamber up as well as treating patients while onboard a KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft.
Medina explained:
“Most of the cases will be a treat-in-place scenario; however, there are some cases where we would be transporting someone in the chamber via aircraft. If that is the case, it is a complicated and logistically complicated procedure, so they need to understand what they need to be thinking about and what processes need to happen. Communication between the med staff and the aircrew is extremely important. We need to integrate with the aircrew.”
