Combat burn life support: a military burn-education program.

The Advanced Burn Life Support Course has been used to train military physicians and nurses for more than 16 years. Although it useful for teaching the fundamentals of burn care, the course is designed for a civilian audience, covers only the first 24 hours of burn care, and presumes the availability of a burn center for patient transfer. In preparation for hostilities in Iraq, we developed several add-on modules to the standard Advanced Burn Life Support course to meet specific needs of military audiences. These modules cover the treatment of white phosphorus burns; the treatment of mustard gas exposure; the long-range aeromedical transfer of burn patients; the management of burn patients beyond the first 24 hours; and the delivery of burn care in austere environments. These add-on modules are termed Combat Burn Life Support. Between January 22, 2003, and May 12, 2003, Advanced Burn Life Support and/or Combat Burn Life Support courses were provided to a total of 1035 military health care providers in the United States, Germany, and the Middle East. Student feedback was largely positive and is being used for further course refinement. The Combat Burn Life Support Course is designed to augment, rather than replace, the Advanced Burn Life Support Course. Although intended for a military audience, the course material is equally applicable to civilian terrorist or mass casualty situations.