The Telemedicine Instrumentation Pack: A Portable Diagnostic Clinic

As a more permanent human presence in space is established during future missions, crew health issues will require additional attention. Since a physician will not be a part of most crews, the flight surgeons will require more clinical information than can currently be provided to regularly assess crew health status and direct medical treatment. The Telemedicine Instrumentation Pack (TIP) is being designed to enable the Crew Medical Officers (CMO) in space to acquire the necessary medical information for telemedical consultation with the flight surgeons in the Mission Control Center (MCC). To date, two prototypes of the TIP have been developed, with the first being clinically evaluated in a local telemedicine testbed in the Fall of 1994 and the second prototype being recently completed. The current system concept, progress in the development of the system, plans for future development, and the evolution of the system are described.