Military medicine
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Battlefield-related wound infections are a significant source of morbidity among combat casualties. Seasonality of these infections was demonstrated in previous conflicts (e.g., Korea) but has not been described with trauma-related health care-associated infections from the war in Afghanistan. ⋯ Gram-negative bacilli, including infecting MDR Gram-negative bacilli, were more commonly recovered in summer/fall months from service members injured in Afghanistan. This may have implications for empiric antibiotic coverage during these months.
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Observational Study
Intraoperative Use of Compensatory Reserve Measurement in Orthotopic Liver Transplant: Improved Sensitivity for the Prediction of Hypovolemic Events.
The compensatory reserve measurement (CRM) is a continuous non-invasive monitoring technology that measures the summation of all physiological mechanisms involved in the compensatory response to central hypovolemia. The CRM is displayed on a 0% to 100% scale. The objective of this study is to characterize the use of CRM in the operative setting and determine its ability to predict hypovolemic events compared to standard vital signs. Orthotopic liver transplant was used as the reference procedure because of the predictable occurrence of significant hemodynamic shifts. ⋯ At the time of the first TFX, the CRM had a higher rate of detection of a hypovolemic event compared to SBP and HR, indicating a higher sensitivity for the detection of the first hypovolemic event. When combined with all hypovolemic events, sensitivity analysis showed that CRM60 provides the earlier predictive capability. Given that SBP is the clinical standard of care for the initiation of TFX, the finding that median time to event detection was statistically similar between CRM60 and SBP90 was not unexpected. When compared to other measures of hypovolemia, the CRM consistently showed earlier detection of hypovolemic events. Although this study had a small sample size, it produced significant results and can serve as a proof of concept for future large-scale studies.
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Although existing auditory injury prevention standards benefit warfighters, the Department of Defense could do more to understand and address auditory injuries (e.g., hearing loss, tinnitus, and central processing deficits) among service members. The Blast Injury Prevention Standards Recommendation (BIPSR) Process is designed to address the needs of all the Military Services for biomedically valid Military Health System (MHS) Blast Injury Prevention Standards. ⋯ The BIPSR Process illuminated important characteristics, capabilities, and limitations of candidate standards and existing datasets (e.g., limited human exposure data to evaluate the validity of injury prediction) for auditory blast injury prevention. The evaluation resulted in the recommendation to use the 8-hour Equivalent Level (LAeq8hr) as the interim MHS Auditory Blast Injury Prevention Standard while the community performs additional research to fill critical knowledge gaps.
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Understanding usage patterns of current paper-based documentation can inform the development of electronic documentation forms for en route care. The primary objective was to analyze the frequency of use of each field within the 3899 L Patient Movement Record documented by en route Critical Care Air Transport Teams. Secondary objectives were to identify rarely utilized form fields and to analyze the proportion of verifiable major events documented within the 3899 L form. ⋯ Many of the current 3899 L fields are highly utilized, but some 3899 L sections contain high proportions of rarely utilized fields. Major event checkboxes did not consistently capture events documented within the in-flight vital sign flow sheet.