Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps
-
Whilst on operations, British military medical staff strive to provide high quality medical care to deployed soldiers. The application of UK Health Care Governance principles, particularly Clinical Professional Development (CPD), is especially challenging on operations. This article highlights some of the difficulties faced and the solutions generated to facilitate good CPD of Combat Medical Technicians (CMTs) deployed to Afghanistan on Operation HERRICK 13. ⋯ Solutions described include the use of individual reflective practice, face-to-face supervision and assessment by Medical Officers, Significant Event Reports, the mandatory After Action Review Process, and the development of formal standardised CMT CPD. This included refresher training after return from leave, Senior Medical Officer (SMO) weekly lectures and the SMO weekly report. Finally, the future of CMT CPD is raised and it is hoped that this article will stimulate debate into how to approach these challenges and refine these processes further.
-
To quantify the risk for delivering care at Role 1 in the Land Environment (point of wounding to hospital care) on current operations and set the conditions for systematic change to enhance future capability. ⋯ The review generated 77 recommendations and 38 sub-recommendations. The top six messages of the review were (1) To balance the expressed desire to increase the ratio of trained Team Medics with the reality of generating credible instructors with clinical experience; (2) To recognise that inadequate experience for Combat Medical Technicians in Primary Healthcare in the Firm Base undermines their operational preparedness; (3) To recognise that Current Regimental Aid Post (RAP) at contingency without power lacks the rudimentary infrastructure of a modern Medical Treatment Facility; (4) To recognise that inappropriate deployment of personnel with chronic disease or acutely limiting conditions is a consistent trend for 20 years that highlights continuing system weaknesses in applying protective medical grading; (5) To accept that General Practitioner manning requires re-evaluating as an Operational Pinch Point, reviewing all options to maintain operational effectiveness including, but not focusing on, incentives; and (6) To recognise that a best practice template for Role 1 Healthcare Governance has been created that must endure.
-
A satellite compound of an International Security Assistance Force Patrol Base came under assault during OP HERRICK 12 resulting in eight casualties. Multiple fragmentation type injuries were sustained over a short period of time which tested the locations medical capacity. This account describes the events that occurred in extracting and treating those injured.
-
Royal Navy General Duties Medical Officers (RN GDMOs) are employed in land operations in Afghanistan in much the same way as British Army GDMOs. In this article the author explores how time with a Royal Marine Commando unit and completion of Commando training in parallel to thorough medical training are beneficial for the roles a RN GDMO is expected to undertake in Helicopter Assault Force Operations.
-
Comparative Study
Op HERRICK primary care casualties: the forgotten many.
The number of battle casualties generated during war is far outnumbered by non-battle casualties. Each year the current conflict in Afghanistan sees hundreds of service personnel medically evacuated direct from the front line to the care of their home units' primary care facility. To date these casualties remain undiscovered by medical research. This is the first study to look at the care pathway of primary care casualties from Operation HERRICK using information from the Defence Patient Tracking System (DPTS). ⋯ A significant number of aeromedical evacuations from Afghanistan are for primary care casualties. The DPTS can be used to provide a basic overview of the care pathway of repatriated personnel. Little contact with the medical services would appear to occur for these types of casualties. There is a significant gap in military medical research looking at primary care casualties repatriated from operations.