Military medicine
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Military physicians receive their undergraduate medical training primarily by either attending civilian medical school, through the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP), or by attending the Uniformed Services University (USU), a federal medical school with a military unique curriculum. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of graduates from these two educational pathways regarding the impact of their medical school training on their readiness for their first deployment. ⋯ These perceptions of both the civilian medical graduates and USU graduates provide important insight to the military medical education community regarding the ways in which civilian medical schools and USU prepare students for their first deployment. This insight will help to identify any training gaps that should be filled in order to ensure that military physicians are ready for deployment.
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Virtual health and secure messaging gained newfound relevance in medicine during the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic. For a military trainee health care clinic located on Joint Base San Antonio, the McWethy Troop Medical Clinic (TMC), implementation of virtual health and secure messaging services meant decreased risk of COVID-19 exposure for trainees and clinical staff. ⋯ In defining the challenges, successes, and future implications for virtual health and secure messaging at the McWethy TMC, key lessons emerge for other military trainee clinics. The key concepts explored in this article are virtual health and secure messaging.
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Airway obstruction is the second leading cause of potentially survivable death on the battlefield. The Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care lists airway optimization among the top 5 battlefield research and development priorities; however, studies show that combat medics lack access to the recommended supraglottic airway (SGA) devices. SGA devices are an alternative airway management technique to endotracheal tube intubation. Reports have shown SGA devices are easier to use and take fewer attempts to provide patent airflow to the patient when compared to endotracheal tube intubation. Military settings require a higher degree of skill to perform airway management on patients due to the environment, limited availability of equipment, and potential chaos of the battlefield. Finding the optimal SGA device for the military setting is an unmet need. The International Organization for Standardization describes basic functional requirements for SGA devices, as well as patient configurations and size limitations. Beyond that, no SGA device manufacturer states that their devices are intended for military settings. ⋯ There are a variety of devices that require further testing to determine whether they should be included in sets, kits, and outfits.
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Evidence from military populations showed that resuscitation using whole blood (WB), as opposed to component therapies, may provide additional survival benefits to traumatically injured patients. However, there is a paucity of data available for the use of WB in uninjured patients requiring transfusion. We sought to describe the use of WB in non-trauma patients at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC). ⋯ In this retrospective study, WB was most commonly used for OBGYN-associated bleeding. As WB becomes more widespread across the USA for use in traumatically injured patients, it is likely that WB will be more commonly used for non-trauma patients. More outcome data are required to safely expand the indications for WB use beyond trauma.
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Observational Study
Prospective Evaluation of Health Outcomes in a Nationwide Sample of Aeromedical Evacuation Casualties: Methods From a Pilot Study.
Although retrospective analyses have found that combat-injured service members are at high risk for mental and physical health outcomes following injury, relatively little is known about the long-term health of injured service members. To better understand long-term health outcomes after combat injury, a large, prospective observational cohort collecting both subjective and objective health data is needed. Given that a study of this nature would be costly and face many logistical challenges, we first conducted a pilot to assess the feasibility of a larger, definitive study. ⋯ Collection of patient-reported outcomes and laboratory samples in a geographically dispersed cohort of combat-injured service members is possible. While significant challenges exist, our pilot study results indicate that a larger, longitudinal, cohort study is feasible.