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Letter to the Heads of the National Military Medical Services
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As you are aware, our service personnel on foreign deployment are increasingly becoming the target of acts of violence and aggression. The implementation of measures to protect the life of and prevent injury to our personnel is thus of major importance if these are to achieve their assigned military objectives.
This means that we need to ensure that the supporting military medical services have the personnel and material resources necessary to make available the best possible quality of treatment to sick and wounded soldiers.
In order to optimise the use and pool the limited resources available and thus provide a comprehensive medical service, the various medical services of the armed forces of allied nations deployed to conflict regions need to co-operate closely together.
Interview the with the Surgeon General of the French armed forces, Médecin Général des Armées Prof. Dr. Bernard Lafont
MCIF: Professor Lafont, thank you very much for agreeing to this interview with Medical Corps International Forum. As a member of our Editorial Advisory Group, you have supported the magazine since its re-launch.
Your country currently looks back on 300 important years of military medicine.
Parallel to this remarkable anniversary, you are also carrying out a basic restructuring process on your military medical services.
Development, trial and comparative evaluation of a new below-knee prosthesis
M. Weinrich, F. Rauhut, U. Maier*, A. Heinzinger
The experiences with the various deployments abroad have shown that independent of a high-tech treatment according to Central European standards it may be useful to be able to provide a suitable prosthetic treatment for the purposes of these deployments.
It’s our turn to help:
I want to address an essential goal:
“Returning our patients to their highest level of health and functioning”.
That goal, I think, all of us in the health care community share, regardless of our specific educational experiences. It does not matter what our education foundation was when we entered health care, as physicians, nurses, or allied health professionals, the different professions all focus on the same thing:
TraumaCare 2009
From October 1st until 4th, 2009, international guests from overseas and German emergency physicians will gather in Ulm/Neu-Ulm to take part in the conference TRAUMACARE 2009. The meeting is themed “the way back to life” to discuss the latest developments in the field of traumacare. The conference will not only focus on prehospital care, but will also cover the entire scope of treatment, ranging from emergency care to surgery, intensive care medicine and follow-up treatment.
How can we reduce the Burden?
The last two decades has seen a paradigm shift between ‘Cold War’ concepts of operations and those that we practice today. This implies that there is a need then to break out of the 20th Century mindset of manoeuvre warfare and to develop a philosophy that meets the needs of defence, in its widest sense, for the 21st Century.
On the 1st Anniversary of Jane’s Country Risk Ratings IHS Jane’s Sums up how the World’s Stability has Changed
London (17th December 2008) -- At the end of 2008 Jane’s Country Risk has been quantatively measuring stability for a year. On the 1st anniversary of the production of the stability ratings, Jane’s examines how global stability has changed.
Humanitarian Relief Hospital Prepares for Deployment to Iraq
Medical personnel from the 14th Combat Support Hospital assess a Soldier’s injuries during a field training exercise at Ft. Benning, Ga.
The field hospital jumped into action with the sudden arrival of seventeen wounded warriors. Most fell victim to improvised explosive device (IED) blasts. The medical staff in the triage ward assessed the injured, inserted intravenous lines and began treatment.
MASCAL at Kandahar
was a clear, warm day, the first after a cold early February. I had just come back to Kandahar Air Field after observing operations at the remote Canadian outpost in Spin Boldak, an Afghan border town to the south. My enforced espresso fast had ended and I was sipping a nice strong roast at the British NAAFI canteen around 1230 when I saw the bottom crawl on Sky News blandly announce in block letter, “Suicide attack in Kandahar City kills dozens.” Before I could down the dregs of my drink, the Big Voice public address system warbled the up and down tones alerting the base to a Mass Casualty event. I have worked out of KAF since 2003 and this was the first time I’d heard the MASCAL go off, so I hurriedly left the NAAFI and thumbed a ride towards the Multi-national Medical Unit, what everybody calls the “Role 3.”
The Ambroise Paré Award Contest
The Ambroise Paré Award is named for the outstanding French surgeon of the Renaissance. Paré emerged from the guild of barbers to further a better repute for surgery. He also made a major contribution to bringing into closer cooperation the disciplines of surgery and medicine. In 1545 Paré published an important essay on the treatment of shooting wounds. In 1552 he reintroduced ligature to stop bleeding.
Many casualties of wars owe their lives to Ambroise Paré.
Heinz-Jürgen Witzke, publisher of MEDICAL CORPS INTERNATIONAL FORUM,
in anouncing the award some years ago, said: “The Ambroise Paré Prize is intended, in the spirit of the medical pioneer for whom it is named, to stimulate scientific thinking and action in the sphere of medicine.”
Exertional Heat Stroke:
Heat stroke is the most severe form of heat- related illnesses. It is classified into two main forms. A classic
heat stroke, which usually affects older people in a hot climate environment, typically in heat waves,
such as the one that occurred in Western Europe in the summer of 2003 and caused the death of thousands
of mostly senior citizens1. The second form is an exertional heat stroke (EHS) which is more common
in young, active people, and results from a rather intense physical activity in a relatively hot climate.
This type is a major concern among professional athletes and, in Israel, specifically among training
soldiers. The reported rising incidence of EHS in the last years2, combining with its’ sudden appearance
and potential lethal results, demands an appropriate education of both medical and commanding staff.
This report will describe the predisposition, the diagnosis and the treatment of EHS among Israeli
soldiers.
New Commander Leads Army’s Battlefield Medical Recording Program
FORT DETRICK, Md., September 25, 2008 – Digital health recording and automated medical logistics efforts on the battlefield will be led by the new commander for the Army’s Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4) Product Management Office, Lt. Col. William Geesey. During the change of charter ceremony held September 25 at Fort Detrick, Md., former MC4 Commander Lt. Col. Edward Clayson conceded the MC4 charter to Lt. Col. Geesey, but not before announcing MC4’s achievement of the Army Superior Unit Award (ASUA).
U.S. Service Members Team Up with Moroccan Medical Professionals to Provide Health Care in Guelmim Province
TIFNIT, Morocco, Jun 26, 2008 — More than 30 U.S. Defense Department personnel worked with Moroccan health officials to provide medical and dental care to thousands of patients June, 2008 in the Guelmim Province of Morocco, as part of an exercise called African Lion.
Army Kicks Paper Records to the Curb
With wounded warriors being shuttled from the battlefield to hospital rooms and back to their homes, the Military Health System has some very unique challenges to overcome in providing quality care for its injured patients. Thankfully, some new technologies implemented in Afghanistan and Iraq have ushered in an era of unprecedented continuity of military medical care. Now, in-theater medicine has never been more effective, both for patients and care-givers alike, thanks to the Army's MC4 system-Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care.
U.S. Service Members Complete Largest Medical Training Exercise in Africa
BAMAKO, Mali - Hundreds of Malians line up to be seen by American service members July 24, 2008 in a village outside of Bamako, Mali. Throughout the medical training exercise, the U.S. medical team visited four villages, trained more than 160 doctors, medics and nurses, saw more than 4,000 patients, treated 4,100 goats and sheep, and conducted a mass casualty exercise in Mali. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Justin Weaver)
MERCY SHIPS
Two Texas-based foundations, The Rees-Jones Foundation and the T. Boone Pickens Foundation, have announced matching gifts of $2 million each towards the work of the world’s largest non-governmental hospital...
Virtual Reality Brings Therapy to PTSD Patients
Imagine a virtual world where U.S. soldiers can walk the roads of Iraq with a standard issued M-4 in hand, feel the shockwave from an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast, experience the feeling of being ambushed by Iraqi forces and then smell the scent of gunpowder from fired weapons after the battle is finished.
In what way can NGO’s contribute to the European Security and Defence Policy?
I thank you for the opportunity to clear up the question, from the point of view of a German relief organization, in what way NGOs can contribute to the European Security and Defence Policy.
Planning and Reconnaissance Tool
The detailed planning of container- and tent-based medical treatment facilities is subject to many complex rules and has to consider the respective dependencies, limits and interfaces.
The Singapore Armed Forces Medical Corps
Organisation of the SAF Medical Corps: Since its inception in 1967, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Medical Corps has expanded from a small office comprising a few officers and volunteers to a modern, tri-Service organization that serves the medical and healthcare needs of the SAF.
The US Army Combat Lifesaver Program
More recent studies by COL Ron Bellamy, US Army (1993) led him to conclude that if in the next war one could only do two things promptly on the battlefield: 1. Put on a tourniquet 2. Relieve a tension pneumothorax That one could save between 70 to 90 percent of all preventable deaths on the battlefield.
Virtopsy – A Tool in the Examination of Victims of Disaster and Warfare
Imaging techniques have proven to be excellent evidential tools for forensic medicine. Nondestructive documentation is important for two reasons: first, it provides information without precluding any other conservative or destructive forensic investigation.
The APMMC (20th Annual Asia Pacific Military Medicine Conference) takes place in Jakarta, Indonesia from May 3rd until 7th 2010. It's theme for next year is "Understanding …
