Patient-Centric Side Effect Risk Assessment for Medications Used During Aeromedical Evacuations

Area of Science:

• Aerospace Medicine
• Clinical Pharmacology
• Patient Safety

Background:

• U.S. Air Force conducts over 6,000 aeromedical transport flights annually.
• Patients on these flights often require pain management medications.
• Altitude-related medication side effect risks are largely unknown but critical for safe patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess patient-centric medication side effect risks during aeromedical evacuation (AE).
• To compare patient-centric risk assessment with aircrew-centric approaches.
• To identify safe pain management strategies for AE patients.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an evidence-based medication side effect risk assessment model.
• Compared a patient-centric approach to an aircrew-centric approach.
• Evaluated risks of commonly used AE medications from a patient perspective.

Main Results:

• 82% (18/22) of commonly used AE medications demonstrated acceptable patient side effect risk.
• Four approved AE medications showed significantly elevated patient risk (2.0-3.2x upper allowable limit).
• These four drugs exceeded tolerable limits by 1.2- to 2.0-fold.

Conclusions:

• Patient-centric risk assessment is vital for AE medication safety.
• Individualized pain management strategies are recommended to minimize risks.
• Further evaluation of specific AE medications is warranted.