Military medicine
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Nearly a quarter of active duty service members identified as food insecure in a 2022 Department of Defense report. Food insecurity impacts military readiness, retention, and recruitment. The Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federal food supplementation program that can mitigate food insecurity for service members with children less than 5 years of age. To date, there is a lack of standardized screening for WIC eligibility or enrollment for service members and their families. This project sought to evaluate WIC awareness and enrollment as well as the prevalence of food insecurity at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. ⋯ Despite proven efficacy, WIC remains an underutilized resource for eligible military families. Our results show that a standardized screening approach at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center increased identification of WIC-eligible active duty service members by 180%, with approximately $150,000 a year in increased food supplementation benefits. Military healthcare and readiness leaders should embrace efforts to increase knowledge of, referral to, and enrollment in WIC to increase family health, well-being, and military family readiness.
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Army recruits conducting BCT are among the most susceptible population of military personnel to experience exertional heat illness, a concern expected to become increasingly urgent due to steadily rising temperatures. In this study, we provide an empirical analysis of wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index trends at U.S. Army BCT installations and quantify the magnitude of these trends. Assuming these warming trends continue, the anticipated effects of increasing temperature trends are discussed in relation to potential impacts on recruit heat illness incidence and training disruption. ⋯ Temperatures measured on the WBGT index have steadily increased at US Army basic training installations since at least 1960. In the future, adaptation to the BCT program will be required to maintain rigorous standards without incurring unacceptable risk of recruit heat illness. The analysis provided by this study can help inform medical, training, and policy implementations needed to ensure continued BCT in a warming world.
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Disease and non-battle injuries (DNBIs) cause substantial losses among military personnel. NATO has monitored DNBIs among its personnel since 1996 using multiple versions of a tool now called EpiNATO-2, but the surveillance system has never been systematically evaluated. Following a request from NATO to the CDC, the objective of this study was to assess surveillance system attributes of EpiNATO-2 using CDC's updated guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems. ⋯ This multinational sample of EpiNATO-2 users at all military levels reported that the system is currently not useful with respect to its stated objectives. Opportunities exist to improve the performance and usefulness of EpiNATO-2: improve case definitions, modernize data infrastructure, and regularly evaluate the surveillance system.
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Mobile applications (apps) may be beneficial to promote self-management strategies to mitigate the risk of developing post-traumatic osteoarthritis in military members following a traumatic knee injury. This study investigated the efficacy of a mobile app in facilitating behavior modification to improve function and symptomology among military members. ⋯ These results indicate that the mobile app is easy to use and may contribute to improved constant pain symptomology for patients at risk for post-traumatic osteoarthritis.
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Military physicians must be prepared to lead health care teams across complex landscapes of war during future small- and large-scale combat operations. This preparation optimally begins in medical school so that early career physicians are fully ready for their first deployment. Past qualitative research has suggested that military physicians who attended civilian medical school are not as well prepared for the operational environment as physicians who attended the Uniformed Services University (USU), our nation's military medical school. However, there is a lack of larger-scale quantitative research comparing the readiness differences between the two medical school pathways. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to quantify any differences in first deployment preparation between students attending USU and civilian medical schools through the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP). ⋯ While both groups believed that they were prepared for their first deployment, USU graduates consistently reported being more prepared by medical school for their first deployment than HPSP graduates. To close this readiness gap, supplemental military unique curricula may help to optimize HPSP students' readiness.