Timothy H Stevenson, Nicole A Chevalier, Gregory R Scher, Ronald L Burke
{"title":"Impact of North Atlantic Treaty Organization Policies and Procedures on Combined Medical Operations: Food and Water Safety and Veterinary Support.","authors":"Timothy H Stevenson, Nicole A Chevalier, Gregory R Scher, Ronald L Burke","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Effective multilateral military operations such as those conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) require close cooperation and standardization between member nations to ensure interoperability. Failure to standardize policies, procedures, and doctrine prior to the commencement of military operations will result in critical interoperability gaps, which jeopardize the health of NATO forces and mission success. To prevent these gaps from occurring, US forces must be actively involved with NATO standardization efforts such as the Committee of the Chiefs of Medical Services to ensure US interests are properly represented when NATO standards are developed and US doctrine and procedures will meet the established NATO requirements. </p>","PeriodicalId":88789,"journal":{"name":"U.S. Army Medical Department journal","volume":" 2-16","pages":"179-81"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34418739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Select Public Health and Communicable Disease Lessons Learned During Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.","authors":"Eric C Garges, Kevin M Taylor, Laura A Pacha","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>History has taught us that the threat of communicable diseases to operational readiness should not be underestimated. The unique operational challenges of a decade at war in Southwest Asia have left us with many new lessons about prevention and mitigation of disease. The successes of military immunization programs demonstrated the successful application of military science to modern combat. Historic maladies such as tuberculosis and malaria continue to challenge our Army health leadership while new challenges with diseases like Q fever and rabies led to questions about our preparedness. These conflicts also brought awareness of issues about the broader deployed community, and the often unique risks that arise when US service members interact more frequently with foreign militaries, local nationals, and third country nationals. Application of these lessons to predeployment training and integration into leadership decision-making will improve our ability to maintain force readiness in future conflicts and adapt Army policy to current evidence and intelligence. </p>","PeriodicalId":88789,"journal":{"name":"U.S. Army Medical Department journal","volume":" 2-16","pages":"161-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34418736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Deployment Exposures and Long-term Health Risks: The Shadow of War.","authors":"Coleen Baird","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The victory in Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm has been \"shadowed\" by long-term health concerns among returning troops. During Operations Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, and Enduring Freedom, the Department of the Army and Department of Defense implemented recommendations of the Institute of Medicine relating to environmental exposure assessment, hazard response, documentation of exposures, and risk assessment using environmental sampling data to evaluate potential health risks among deployed troops. Recommendations regarding risk communication proved more difficult to implement, however. Exposure to particulate matter and airborne hazards including burn pit emissions and chemical warfare agents have received attention from service members, the media, and in some cases, Congress. A combination of lack of clear and consistent messages, imperfect and sometimes seemingly contradictory science, and strong perceptions suggest that questions related to these exposures and their potential long-term health effects will persist. </p>","PeriodicalId":88789,"journal":{"name":"U.S. Army Medical Department journal","volume":" 2-16","pages":"167-72"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34418737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Shaping the Flight Paramedic Program.","authors":"Neil B Davids","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Over the past 14 years of conflict, the Department of Defense medical community has made significant strides in patient care. As the conflicts developed, many sources identified a critical gap in en route care, specifically the need for critical care trained personnel for point of injury and intrahospital transfers, as well as improved outcomes for patients who received care from critical care trained providers. As stopgap measures were implemented, the US Army instituted the Critical Care Flight Paramedic Program in order to meet this need of life saving critical care transport. Execution of both an institutional training model as well as a home station training option allows for increased numbers of personnel trained, as well as flexibility for National Guard and Army Reserve units to keep personnel in their area. The Critical Care Flight Paramedic Program's educational outcomes have been exceptional, with National Registry Paramedic pass rates well above the national average. As the program develops, recertification and sustainment of knowledge and skills will be challenges, and novel approaches and flexibility will become critical for continued success. </p>","PeriodicalId":88789,"journal":{"name":"U.S. Army Medical Department journal","volume":" 2-16","pages":"48-51"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34510416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"US Army Physical Therapist Roles and Contributions in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.","authors":"Scott W Shaffer, Josef H Moore","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Musculoskeletal injuries are a leading cause of health care utilization, medical evacuation, and disability. US Army physical therapists (PTs) have served as physician extenders for the management of nonsurgical neuromusculoskeletal injuries since the Vietnam conflict. The roles and evidence supporting US Army physical therapy continue to evolve. This article discusses the different levels of care and roles of US Army PTs, the contributions and evidence regarding US Army physical therapy, and physical therapy lessons learned during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Since 2001, US Army PTs and enlisted physical therapy technicians have provided care from Levels 1 to 5 and assignments have expanded to special operations and brigade combat teams. Evidence suggests US Army PTs serving both in referral and direct access roles provided safe and definitive care that maximized readiness while reducing evacuation. Key physical therapy lessons learned include: (1) a continued focus on a Soldier sports medicine forward care model, (2) a need for injury risk assessment, physical performance screenings, and reconditioning programs that optimize readiness, and (3) continued support for physical therapy structure, training, and research that maximizes Soldier readiness and health. </p>","PeriodicalId":88789,"journal":{"name":"U.S. Army Medical Department journal","volume":" 2-16","pages":"52-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34511381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
John B Robinson, Michael P Smith, Kirby R Gross, Samual W Sauer, James J Geracci, Charlie D Day, Russ S Kotwal
{"title":"Battlefield Documentation of Tactical Combat Casualty Care in Afghanistan.","authors":"John B Robinson, Michael P Smith, Kirby R Gross, Samual W Sauer, James J Geracci, Charlie D Day, Russ S Kotwal","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Performance improvement is reliant on information and data, as you cannot improve what you do not measure. The US military went to war in 2001 without an integrated trauma care system to collect and analyze combat casualty care data. By 2006, the conflict in Afghanistan began appreciating the capture and consolidation of hospital care documentation into the Department of Defense Trauma Registry. In contrast, a paucity of documentation has existed for prehospital or tactical combat casualty care (TCCC). Using the 75th Ranger casualty documentation model established in 2005, the Joint Trauma System developed a casualty data collection system for prehospital care using the TCCC Card, the TCCC After Action Report (AAR), and the Prehospital Trauma Registry. In 2013, this system was mandated for use by US forces in Afghanistan. The Joint Trauma System also created and deployed a prehospital team to be an integral part of the Joint Theater Trauma System in Afghanistan. This prehospital team provided prehospital training and facilitated prehospital data capture. Described and analyzed in this report are prehospital data captured in Afghanistan from 2013 to 2014 using the TCCC Card and the TCCC AAR. </p>","PeriodicalId":88789,"journal":{"name":"U.S. Army Medical Department journal","volume":" 2-16","pages":"87-94"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34511383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Enrique V Smith-Forbes, Charles D Quick, Katherine M Brown
{"title":"Roles of Occupational Therapists in Theater, Past and Present.","authors":"Enrique V Smith-Forbes, Charles D Quick, Katherine M Brown","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The impetus to deploy occupational therapy (OT) assets into theaters of operation lies in the occupational therapist's ability to evaluate the effect of physical and/or behavioral symptoms on functional performance and effectively develop individualized interventions. Occupational therapy utilization has been robust during 14 years of continuous deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Occupational therapy's indoctrinated role in combat is solely with the combat and operational stress control missions, however, the skills and capabilities of this profession have demonstrated efficacy in other specializations, including concussion care. The effectiveness of OT interventions is demonstrated with improved return to duty (RTD) rates for casualties suffering with combat and operational stress reactions where OT was a major component of a restoration and reconditioning program. As well, postconcussion RTD rates have been linked to the broad skill sets inherent in OT that allow casualties to remain in theater from the point of injury to complete recovery and RTD. </p>","PeriodicalId":88789,"journal":{"name":"U.S. Army Medical Department journal","volume":" 2-16","pages":"66-70"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34510417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Acute and Chronic Pain on the Battlefield: Lessons Learned from Point of Injury to the United States.","authors":"Scott M Croll, Scott R Griffith","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Historically, war tends to accelerate innovation within military medicine. In this article, the authors argue this truism has recurred in the case of acute and chronic pain management for combatants in the global war on terrorism (GWOT). Advances in regional anesthesia techniques and multimodal acute pain care are highlighted in light of the typical weapons, injuries, and comorbid conditions of the modern combat era. Reported success of providing chronic pain care in the war theater during GWOT is discussed in the context of operational requirements for current and future wars. A description is provided of the Pain Management Task Force (PMTF) and Pain Campaign Plan which was initiated during GWOT. The PMTF effort enhanced pain education and clinical pain care through leadership and organizational changes, which created broader access to pain treatments for patients and more standardized treatment capabilities across the enterprise. </p>","PeriodicalId":88789,"journal":{"name":"U.S. Army Medical Department journal","volume":" 2-16","pages":"102-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34407579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lessons Learned: Employment and Tactical Use of The Combat Medic During Stability Support Operations.","authors":"Michael S Eldred","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It is the intent of this article to define the strategy by which Combat Medics have been employed in contemporary stability operations and counterinsurgency conflicts. This article describes the advances in training based on Tactical Combat Casualty Care and how training evolved into an evidence-based model. Training platforms evolved with shifts in mission requirements, new technology, improved medical techniques, and changing protocols. The last portion of this article details recommendations in doctrine, materiel, and training that could enable optimal sustainment standards while retaining operational capability across a wide variety of combat and peace operations. Lessons learned and changes adapted for Medics that are addressed: (1) advances in training and employment of the Combat Medic necessitated by tactics and strategy of current conflicts, (2) Combat Medic regulatory requirements and centralized, just-in-time training, and (3) changes in sustainment training driven by certification requirements and use of medical simulation training centers. </p>","PeriodicalId":88789,"journal":{"name":"U.S. Army Medical Department journal","volume":" 2-16","pages":"195-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34576134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evolution of Military Combat Eye Protection.","authors":"James R Auvil","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Appreciation for combat eye protection steadily increased following World War II. Products derived from experiences in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Iran/Iraq war drove technical improvements throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Dismal wear compliance prior to 2004 indicates Soldiers and their leaders did not appreciate these improvements and found little value in the bulky, ugly, and uncomfortable products. In 2003, the 10th Mountain Division requested enhanced eye protection. Program Executive Office Soldier, the optometry consultant to the Army Surgeon General, members of the Tri-Service Vision Conservation and Readiness Program, and other subject matter experts selected and tested commercial off-the-shelf eye protection against military ballistic impact standards. Optical devices that met ballistic standards formed the first Authorized Protective Eyewear List and were fielded beginning in 2004. Wear compliance rose dramatically for the stylish protective eyewear, reaching 85% to 95% and eye injuries decreased across the Department of Defense even as the incidence of attacks in Iraq increased. Researchers continue to evaluate new materials and designs to increase the capabilities, features and level of protection of future ballistic eyewear. </p>","PeriodicalId":88789,"journal":{"name":"U.S. Army Medical Department journal","volume":" 2-16","pages":"135-9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"34407581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}