BMJ military health
-
BMJ military health · May 2020
United States university-based officer training and its influence on physical assessment test performance.
Cadets participating in Reserve Officers' Training Corp (ROTC) at US universities undergo both Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) and Occupational Physical Assessment Test (OPAT) evaluations prior to commissioning. The current study examined the relationship between ROTC physical training (PT) attendance and performance in the APFT and OPAT, and characterised physical activity of cadets outside of PT. ⋯ Regular participation in a single semester of ROTC PT was found to significantly increase cadets' scores in some, but not all, components of the APFT and OPAT. Self-reported physical activity results indicate that cadets regularly train outside of organised PT.
-
BMJ military health · Apr 2020
Case series of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in a military recruit school: clinical, sanitary and logistical implications.
A new coronavirus, called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-CoronaVirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has emerged from China in late 2019 and has now caused a worldwide pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 has not been described so far in a military setting. We therefore report a case series of infected patients in a recruit school in Switzerland and the herein associated challenges. ⋯ Young healthy recruits often showed a mild course of COVID-19 with rapid symptom decline but were persistent SARS-CoV-2 carriers. This illustrates how asymptomatic patients may be responsible for covert viral transmission. An early and prolonged establishment of isolation and quarantine for patients and close contacts is essential to slow down the spread of SARS-CoV-2, especially in the confined space of a military environment.
-
BMJ military health · Apr 2020
Manchester Arena bombing: lessons learnt from a mass casualty incident.
On 22 May 2017 Salman Abedi detonated an improvised explosive device in the Manchester Arena resulting in 23 deaths (including the attacker). This was the deadliest terrorist attack on UK soil since the 2005 London bombings, but was only one of five mass casualty terrorist attacks in the UK in 2017. ⋯ Following an MCI, local and national reviews are undertaken to assess the effectiveness of the response, but also to identify areas where lessons can be learnt and to disseminate these to allow inclusion in future planning. We present the experience following a mass casualty terrorist incident along with a number of lessons learnt from this event.
-
Major incidents occur on a regular basis. So far in 2017, England has witnessed five terrorism-related major incidents, resulting in approximately 40 fatalities and 400 injured. Triage is a key principle in the effective management of a major incident and involves prioritising patients on the basis of their clinical acuity. ⋯ Whilst the MPTT-24 is likely to be the optimum physiological method for primary major incident triage, it needs to be accompanied by an appropriate secondary triage process. The existing UK military and civilian secondary triage tool, the Triage Sort, is described, which offers little advantage over primary methods for identifying patients who require life-saving intervention. Further research is required to identify the optimum method of secondary triage.