U.S. Army Medical Department journal
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Today's operational environment in the support of counterinsurgency operations requires greater tactical and operational flexibility and diverse medical capabilities. The skills and organizations required for full spectrum medical operations are different from those of the past. Combat healthcare demands agility and the capacity for rapid change in clinical systems and processes to better support the counterinsurgency environment. ⋯ It discusses using the concept of the brigade combat team to develop medical capability teams as the unit of effectiveness to transform frontline care; provides a theoretical overview of the MCT as a "clinical microsystem"; discusses MCT leadership, training, and organizational support, and the deployment and employment of the MCT in a counterinsurgency environment. Additionally, this article proposes that the AMEDD initiate the development of an AMEDD Combat Training Center of Excellence to train and validate the MCTs. The complexity of combat healthcare demands an agile and campaign quality AMEDD with joint expeditionary capability in order to promote the best patient outcomes in a counterinsurgency environment.
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To understand the complexity of the medical task force mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, we must first understand the operational environment and its impact on the military healthcare system and the medical task force charged with its execution in theater. Historically the medical task force has focused almost exclusively on delivering a robust and accessible set of level II and III care and force health protection support since operations began in Iraq. ⋯ Whereas our predecessors rightly focused on delivering combat health support during their tenure, we focused on the future, laying the foundation for the eventual transition to an environment similar to that in the Republic of Korea as the security situation improves. The foundation laid during Operation Iraqi Freedom 07-09 can be the foundation for the Army and the military healthcare system's vision in creating and modifying the delivery of US standard healthcare in a combat theater.
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During Operation Iraqi Freedom 07-09, Task Force 261 Multifunctional Medical Battalion managed an extensive dental care system stretching throughout the Iraq theater of operations. We illustrate several of the unique challenges faced by Task Force 261's headquarters and its dental and area support companies, and describe the remedies emplaced by the Task Force. Personnel structure, the evacuation chain, supply and facility management, dental civil-military operations, detainee care, information technology applications, and public health initiatives are discussed in detail.
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This article describes the practical application of documenting the operational concept and scope of services for military combat hospitals providing joint health service support during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Due to the rapid changes that take place in healthcare in general, and, in particular, in a large, rapidly maturing military theater of operations, a clear operational concept and accurate scope of services is essential for hospital commanders and medical planners. ⋯ Those requirements in turn become the authoritative source for space, building systems, equipment, functional arrangements, and financial justification. A recent case study highlights the utility of the CONOPS document in translating the necessary clinical capabilities and capacities into facility space and building systems required to support them in a very tight schedule driven process normally not associated with the military construction program and in particular medical projects.
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Leading a deployed combat healthcare system is a very complex task and requires a command and control structure that is a unique blend of technical and tactical expertise to efficaciously deliver world-class medical care to America's sons and daughters. The medical task force in Iraq has successfully managed the transformation of the medical footprint from a tactically arrayed set of disparate medical units to a nascent integrated healthcare system with many features similar to the best healthcare systems in the United States. The American public demands, and Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen, and Coast Guardsmen deserve US quality medical care, whether they are being treated at a military medical center in the US, or a US medical facility in Iraq. This article presents an overview of the 62nd Medical Brigade's development of the combat healthcare support system during its tenure leading the US medical task force in Iraq.