Transdisciplinary Design Aspects of an Air Mobile Stroke Unit

Stroke is highly treatable but time critical. The greatest opportunity to improve outcomes is in the first ‘Golden Hour’ after onset. Pre-hospital care for stroke in Australia is patchy and poorly coordinated, resulting in gross disparities in clinical outcomes between rural and urban Australians. Clinical outcomes are at least twice as poor for rural Australians compared to their urban counterparts. A proposed solution is an Air MSU, an aircraft configured for rapid response to stroke victims so that diagnosis and treatment can commence onsite. This concept follows the tradition of the Royal Flying Doctors Service who have been providing medical services to rural Australians since 1928. This paper discusses the conflicting medical and aerospace requirements for an aircraft equipped with a CT-scanner including supporting equipment and personnel.