Aeromedical Certification in 1999 and Beyond

From The Federal Air Surgeon's Medical Bulletin, Spring 1999.

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Aeromedical Certification in 1999 and Beyond

Aeromedical Certification Update, by Warren S. Silberman, DO,MPH

PROLOGUE:

Having just seen the movie Shakespearein Love with the wife and girls, I’m in the mood for writing a short play about howwe conduct the certification business is going to change. Remember, though, that I’m adoctor, and while my vision of the future may not be poetic, it is realistic, based on avery plausible scenario. After all, I’m using my computer’s keyboard, not ink-stainedfingers to compose this little ditty.

ACT I, SCENE I. The place: A good physician’s antechamber, anywhere in the US.The time: about one year hence.

Enter, airman applicant, who has arrived for his FAA third-class medical examination.Nurse Ratchet, who has toiled for the kindly doctor for these many years, presents airmanapplicant with the new and improved, FAA Form 8500-8 (scheduled to be distributed inSeptember 1999), along with a suitable writing instrument. airman applicant completes thefront side of the form, and with a flourish, signs block 20. Nurse Ratchet escorts him tothe clinic room that has been designated for flight examinations.

ACT I, SCENE II. The laboratory, a chamber where physical examinations areconducted.

Nurse Ratchet, acting the part of the stern, yet compassionate inquisitor, uses thetools of her trade to observe and record her patient’s hidden signs: how beats the heartwithin him, how mightily does the blood course through his veins… now she whispers tohim of chocolate donuts and other meaningless gibberish to see if he can comprehend thelow decibels she has uttered in the still chamber. Finally, she directs his rapt gaze to agraphic that is inscribed with tiny little lines designed to see if the vision is sharp orin need of focal augmentation. She records the results of these preliminary tests andexits the chamber to another nearby chamber, where she will examine the contents of acontainer with a yellowish fluid that was provided earlier by airman applicant as aprerequisite to any further proceedings.

ENTER, the Good Physician. GP is a warm, friendly person, very busy but prone touttering small talk about the weather, airplanes, golf, the FAA. GP greets airmanapplicant with a smile and a handshake. Surveying the form the nurse provided, he bolts tohis office computer and summons the Internet, using Fast Flight Service.com, the servicethat was purchased for a pittance, a mere $14.95 per month.

Using the username and password provided by the Aeromedical Certification Division(AMCD) in Oklahoma City, GP uses the newest version of the Aeromedical CertificationSystem (AMCS) to locate airman applicant’s medical files. As if by magic, his historicaldata illuminates the screen with facts, information about how he fared on his last medicalexamination, the exam before that, and as far back as to when airman applicant first beganto ply the skies as a fledgling aviator.

GP invites airman applicant to view the computer images, and they discuss theinformation it provides them. GP then presses the ENTER button and the historical data isnow transported to the AMCD files. Inviting airman applicant now to occupy a tiny table,GP examines him to determine if his body is prepared to withstand the rigors ofunrestricted flight. Once satisfied that it will, GP scribbles out his findings on theback portion of the 8500-8, signs the form, and hands it to Nurse Ratchet, who replacesthe busy doctor at the computer console to enter the new examination data. One last lookto be sure all is correct, and she submits the file to the AMCD.

ACT I, SCENE III. The Antechamber.

Nurse Ratchet finishes using the office printer to produce a new medical certificate.GP signs the document and presents it to airman applicant with a restriction noted that"Holder Must Wear Corrective Lenses." AA is also presented with the third pageof the 8500-8, which is his copy of the front side of the 8500-8, for him to have and tohold until the next visit.

airman applicant exits the antechamber, proclaiming to one and all that, for anothertwo years, he is a happy man.

CURTAIN


EPILOGUE:

Well, you get the idea. This is our vision of the future with the new Internet-basedAMCS. To take this scenario a step further, let’s say the airman was being followed formild hypertension. This will give you a view from within the Aeromedical CertificationDivision and is a representation of how we will handle the workflow. The data GP justsubmitted has been received, instantaneously matched, but causes the system to produce areject message.

A clerk receives a list of rejected applications, with airman applicant’s name listed,retrieves his case from the files with a PI number, and determines that he has beenfollowed for mild essential hypertension. The file, along with the other files that camein that day with PI numbers, is sent to the scanning area to be indexed and scanned intothe new electronic medical file that was developed on this airman. The case is thenreviewed for quality control and placed into AMCD’s new Document Imaging and WorkflowSystem, which is also part of the new way that business is being conducted.

The case is then sent to a Legal Instrument Examiner’s workflow box, an instantaneousworkflow layout that she is able to access on her work station computer.

The reviewer clicks on the icon with the airman’s MID number and reviews thehypertension follow-up report that GP had inserted into block 60 of the 8500-8. The reportsent in by GP was quite favorable, so the reviewer clicks on the drop-down box with a listof all the letters that AMCD uses and brings up an Eligibility letter shell, inserts theblood pressure blurb, presses Print, and the Eligibility letter gets printed. The letteris reviewed, signed, and sent out — all within 24 hours of the examination.

At the end of your busy workweek, you package up the 50 FAA examination forms that youcompleted, and mail them to the AMCD where they are permanently stored. The Federal AirSurgeon has determined that the AMCD will be the repository for the original 8500-8’s.

Fellow aviation medical examiners, this is going to be reality in a few months!Dr. Jordan, through your Regional Flight Surgeons, has requested that all aviation medicalexaminers use the above system exclusively by October 1, 1999.

The sequence of events you read above will already be a reality for many aviationmedical examiners by the time you read this. From March of 1999, until October 1, 1999, wewill be testing the system in "real-time" with volunteers participating in thefinal systems check of the Aeromedical Certification System.


Dr. Silberman manages the Civil Aeromedical Institute’s Aeromedical CertificationDivision.

The Federal Air Surgeon’s Medical Bulletin • Spring 1999

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