Military medicine
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Mobile health technology design and use by patients and clinicians have rapidly evolved in the past 20 years. Nevertheless, the technology has remained in silos of practices, patients, and individual institutions. Uptake across integrated health systems has lagged. ⋯ The App appears to be an effective tool to extend a clinician's capabilities and inter-professional communication between world-wide users and six MHS markets. This App was designed-and used-for a large health care network across a wide geographic footprint. Next steps are establishing an enduring chain of App champions for continued updates and sharing the App's code with other military medical disciplines and interested civilian centers.
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The majority of combat deaths occur in the prehospital setting. Efforts to increase survival including blood transfusions are made in the prehospital setting. The blood products available in the Role 1 setting include whole blood (WB), red blood cells (RBCs), fresh frozen plasma (FFP), and lyophilized (freeze-dried) plasma (FDP). ⋯ The use of prehospital blood products is uncommon in U.S. combat settings. Patients who received blood products sustained severe injuries but had a high survival rate. Given the infrequent but critical use and potentially increased need for adequate prolonged casualty care in future near-peer conflicts, optimizing logistical chain circulation is required.
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The emergency use authorization for multiple coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines came at a pivotal time for the USA. In January 2021, the country exceeded 400,000 deaths from COVID-19. The USA aimed to quickly distribute and administer the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, with bright prospects for an additional emergency use authorization for Johnson and Johnson/Janssen's single-dose vaccine on the horizon. ⋯ S. Air Force personnel were tasked with supporting the FEMA COVID-19 vaccination operations at NRG stadium, Houston, Texas. This reflection aims to cover the lessons learned and provide meaningful insight for future mass medical operations.
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From its emergence and declaration as a worldwide pandemic, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with significant medical and logistical challenges. Initial obstacles ranged from the need to develop testing platforms to the determination of effective treatments to decrease the significant morbidity and mortality associated with the disease. Due to significant scientific breakthroughs, the most recent pressing challenge has been the distribution of vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 to prevent the spread of the infection across the world. ⋯ These medical professionals have the proficiency, knowledge, and experience to run efficient mass immunization events in order to provide vaccines in a safe and rapid environment. Despite this, significant challenges attributable to the variable and novel nature of COVID-19 vaccine logistical requirements have led to unanswered questions and debate that needed resolution before and during the launch of this program. Here we describe the process for establishing a mass vaccination program for COVID-19 vaccine delivery and our experience-based problem solving approach at a large AF military treatment facility.