Military medicine
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Nearly a quarter of active duty service members identified as food insecure in a 2022 Department of Defense report. Food insecurity impacts military readiness, retention, and recruitment. The Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federal food supplementation program that can mitigate food insecurity for service members with children less than 5 years of age. To date, there is a lack of standardized screening for WIC eligibility or enrollment for service members and their families. This project sought to evaluate WIC awareness and enrollment as well as the prevalence of food insecurity at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. ⋯ Despite proven efficacy, WIC remains an underutilized resource for eligible military families. Our results show that a standardized screening approach at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center increased identification of WIC-eligible active duty service members by 180%, with approximately $150,000 a year in increased food supplementation benefits. Military healthcare and readiness leaders should embrace efforts to increase knowledge of, referral to, and enrollment in WIC to increase family health, well-being, and military family readiness.
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The success of deep-learning algorithms in analyzing complex structured and unstructured multidimensional data has caused an exponential increase in the amount of research devoted to the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine in the past decade. Public release of large language models like ChatGPT the past year has generated an unprecedented storm of excitement and rumors of machine intelligence finally reaching or even surpassing human capability in detecting meaningful signals in complex multivariate data. Such enthusiasm, however, is met with an equal degree of both skepticism and fear over the social, legal, and moral implications of such powerful technology with relatively little safeguards or regulations on its development. ⋯ Finally, barriers to implementation are addressed along with potential solutions. The end state is not that rising military physicians are technical experts in AI; but rather that they understand how they can leverage its rapidly evolving capabilities to prepare for a future where AI will have a significant role in clinical care. The overall goal is to develop trained clinicians that can leverage these technologies to improve the Military Health System.
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Observational Study
Sleep and Military Leaders: Examining the Values, Beliefs, and Quality of Sleep and the Impact on Occupational Performance.
Sleep deprivation is rampant within the military population, and insufficient sleep can lead to physical and mental health problems impacting soldier's readiness and deployability. Past research has shown the importance of leadership's role in subordinates' sleep health. Understanding the values, beliefs, and quality of military leader sleep is essential to the development of effective interventions to optimize occupational performance and overall sleep health. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the military leaders' values, beliefs, and sleep quality and the impact on occupational performance. The authors aimed to (1) identify military leaders' sleep quality and beliefs; (2) explore the relationship between military leaders' sleep quality, beliefs and attitudes about sleep, and impact on occupational performance; and (3) examine the value leaders place on sleep for themselves and subordinates in relation to occupational performance. ⋯ This sample of military leaders was found to perceive themselves as poor-quality sleepers despite demonstrating more functional attitudes and beliefs about sleep and reporting normal-to-mild impairments in daily functioning as a result of daytime sleepiness. Furthermore, findings suggest that leaders' sleep quality and beliefs stand to be further improved, whereas their sleep values need to be consistently demonstrated to subordinates. With a clearer understanding of military leaders' values, beliefs, and sleep quality, future research could focus on implementing and developing holistically based and individualized sleep interventions intended to optimize performance and sleep health.
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The Air Force International Health Specialist program provides expert medical and public health support to enhance global health engagement efforts. National Guardsmen possess unique civilian health care expertise to support global health engagement. The DoD must increase support for Air National Guard International Health Specialist involvement, including training and development opportunities.
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The U.S. Army fell 25% short of its recruitment goal in 2022 and therefore, increasing the eligibility pool for potential recruits is of interest. Raising the body mass index (BMI) standards for eligibility presents a path to increase the recruitable population; however, there may be additional costs incurred due to attendant health risks that may be present in individuals with higher BMI. ⋯ Potential recruits from Cluster 1 have excessive health risk and may incur substantial cost to the U.S. Army if enlisted. However, potential recruits from Cluster 3 appear to add little risk and offer an opportunity to increase the pool for recruiting.