Getting into dive medicine?

[Lenaxia]

Hey Dr Deco!

I'm currently looking to return to school after a few years working in the tech industry. More specifically I am looking to return to med school.

One of the fields I am interested in pursuing is dive medicine, though between research and practice I am yet undecided.

Being in the Santa Clara, CA area, I am close to Monterey and I was wondering if you knew of any dive medicine research being done in the area where I may be able to shadow a doctor.

Do you have any other recommendations for breaking into the field? Are you aware of any scientific journals that cater towards dive medicine?

I've spent some time on the Rubicon Foundation site Rubicon Research Repository: Home but wanted to know if there was other material I could glean knowledge from.

Thanks!
Mike

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello Lenaxia:

Diving Docs

There are not that many diving accidents [thank goodness!] and thus most work with hyperbaric chambers involves the treatment of other medical issues. These can be wounds that do not heal, bone infections, poisonings, and several more. To “shadow” a physician to see a treatment of DCS might involve a wait of months.

There are facilities that deal almost directly with diving accidents in an area where diving is popular. One such place is the Catalina Hyperbaric Facility on Catalina Island. They have a web site, and you might contact them for further information. You can speak with Karl Huggins who is the program director, and you are welcome to mention my name. This facility is somewhat near you.

Hyperbaric Medicine

There are hyperbaric/aerospace medicine programs from the US military. Many physicians in hyperbarics with whom I was acquainted were diving medical officers. There are also courses in hyperbaric medicine offered by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society.

Research

Research funds today are rare. Lack of research funds was the primary reason that I left NASA and retired. In the two journals, Undersea Biomedical Research and Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, about two-thirds of the papers are from outside the United States. There simply is no money and thus no researchers.

When I started baromedical research in 1969, there were several industrial laboratories and several university programs in the US. This is no longer true. This is even the recent situation with the US Air Force [Brooks AFB] and NASA [Johnson Space Center].

Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[jakefreiberger]

Hi Lenaxia,

Don't let anyone discourage you. There is a great deal of research going on that deals with the human physiology of extreme environments. To become proficient is a long road to travel (medical school, internship, residency and fellowship or a PhD in a field such as molecular biology, cell biology or epidemiology if you want to look at the population aspects of environmental medicine) but, it is certainly possible to do and research funding for good projects is available. Check out the Duke Dive Medicine website: at dukedivemedicine.org and the related Duke Hyperbaric Chamber website at hyperbaric.mc.duke.edu to see some of the projects that we are doing. NASA is also a source for ideas. The problems of calcium loss from weightlessness, radiation exposure, vertigo (space sickness), post flight papilledema, and even the bends from decompressing from one ata to the 0.4 ata pressure of the suit prior to an EVA are still unsolved problems. It is a rewarding career.

Jake Freiberger

 

[Kevrumbo]

Keck School of Medicine of USC | Department of Emergency Medicine

Hyperbaric Medicine Fellowship

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Contact Dr. Karen Van Hoesen or Dr. Brian Snyder at UCSD and ask them any questions you might have about a future career in hyperbaric medicine. Both are affiliated with the Hyperbaric Medicine fellowship at UCSD. FYI, this fellowship is a one-year program that physicians undertake after residency training in emergency medicine.

Curricular trajectory is: 4 years for med school + 1 yr. for internship/transitional + 3-4 years for emergency medicine residency. I believe that the UCSD emergency medicine residency program recently shifted to a 4 yr. program that incorporates the internship/transitional year.

If you want to do strictly basic science research, then you should consider pursuing a Ph.D.
At this point, you should be asking yourself the following question: "Do I want to work with patients clinically?" If you can unequivocally answer "Yes," then go to med school.

There will always be opportunities for academic research should you decide to choose the M.D. route. In fact, that's one of the mandatory components of the emergency medicine program at UCSD.

Hope this info helps...

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello Lenaxia [again]:

You asked specifically about diving medicine, and it is on this topic that I based my response.

If you wish to consider extreme environments and other ancillary fields, that is a different story. Without a degree in medicine and the ability to have a clinical practice, a salary can be “iffy” is one’s funding comes almost entirely from research grants.

Space physiology is interesting but there have been cuts in the US manned space program. Things are not good even at NASA – that is why I left!

Einstein remarked once, “Science is nice as long as you do not need to make a living doing it.” Have other things to do. Someone at NASA once remarked, “There is space science, but there are no space scientists.”

Duke University is unique in having the only viable barophysiology program in the United States. Some of it was funded with NASA money. I know, I sent it there. But, I am gone and so is perhaps that pot of money. Sorry to be so negative, but I stick to my story.:depressed:


Dr Deco :doctor: