Spaceflight Respiratory System from a Nursing Perspective.

The pulmonary system is sensitive to aerospace exposures, including changes in atmospheric composition and pressure, alterations in gravitational forces, and exposure to radiation and toxins. Providing nursing care in the aerospace environment requires understanding of pulmonary conditions such as high-altitude pulmonary edema, decompression-related illness and injury, arterial gas embolism, acceleration atelectasis, hypoxia, hypercapnia, and exposure syndromes. In addition to these conditions, we discuss changes in pulmonary physiology in microgravity, in-flight nursing medical capabilities, and treatment of pulmonary conditions in microgravity environments.