Abstract:

Aim: In medical practice, education is mainly carried out in inpatient care. There is limited attention to specific training focusing on the medical branches like space medicine. Educating medical students can assist them in becoming potential candidates or educators in space medicine, and this education could become a necessity for future generations. In the present study, we aimed to assess the medical school students in Turkey for their level of awareness in this field. Material and Method: Our study is designed as a cross-sectional study comprising students studying medicine. Participants in different grades who agreed to fill the awareness questionnaire focusing on space medicine were included. Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire consisting of 16 questions. The questions included in the questionnaire were asked in different forms, such as multiplechoice, open-ended questions, and questions scaled from 1 to 10. Results: A total of 318 participants were included in the study. The mean age of the participants was 21.3±2.1 years. It was found that 42.1% of the students did not know space medicine. Similarly, 56.3% of the participating students were unaware that this specialty was among the medical fields. 60.7% of participants incorrectly answered the questions about their knowledge of the potentially encountered problems in space. It was found that 43.1% of the participants were unaware of the presence of any space agency; of those who were informed about their presence, only as few as 9.9% responded with the Turkish Space Agency. 6.6% of the participants believed that the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) was Turkey’s official space agency. Conclusion: Medical faculty students have limited knowledge of space medicine, and half of them were not aware of the presence of the aerospace medicine field.

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