RESUMEN

INTRODUCTION: The Army utilizes Individual Critical Task Lists (ICTLs) to track and ensure competency and deployment readiness of its medical service members. ICTLs are the various skills and procedures that the Army has deemed foundational for each area of concentration (AOC)/military occupational specialty (MOS). While many ICTLs involve the patient care that military medical providers regularly provide, some procedures are not as commonly performed. This, when coupled with lower patient volume at military treatment facilities (MTF), poses a challenge for maintaining skill competency and deployment readiness. Fort Campbell's Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH) has created a holistic and unique solution to meet many of these standardized requirements and support a ready medical force. By optimizing the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS®) course curriculum to facilitate ICTL completion, BACH has increased its ICTL completion rates, ATLS® course exposure, and streamlined training requirements. The purpose of this article is to describe this best practice and suggest its applicability to other MTFs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: By cross-referencing the ATLS® course curriculum and appendices with ICTLs, BACH has augmented ATLS® course certification with the additional completion of 12 ICTLs. This new approach not only increases ICTL completion, but also increases ATLS® curriculum exposure to medical providers, such as Registered Nurses or Nurse Practitioners, who would not typically take ATLS®. RESULTS: Since starting this new approach in April 2021, 73 military medical personnel have completed the ATLS® course at BACH, with 24 different medical specialties represented. A total of 361 ICTLs have been completed with specific ICTL completion counts ranging from 13 to 48. Each ICTL tested was completed 100% of its annual requirement. CONCLUSION: ATLS® is a mandatory joint interoperability standard for military physicians and it is also an Army ICTL for many AOCs/MOSs. Only counting completion of this course as one ICTL is a missed opportunity for the time spent by Army medical providers and limits the exposure of ATLS® to select AOCs/MOSs. This optimized and novel approach has been successful at BACH, suggesting its applicability at other MTFs that serve as ATLS® testing sites.

Asunto(s)

Atención de Apoyo Vital Avanzado en Trauma , Humanos , Atención de Apoyo Vital Avanzado en Trauma/métodos , Atención de Apoyo Vital Avanzado en Trauma/normas , Personal Militar/estadística & datos numéricos , Personal Militar/psicología , Medicina Militar/métodos , Medicina Militar/educación , Medicina Militar/normas , Curriculum/tendencias , Curriculum/normas , Competencia Clínica/normas

RESUMEN

The Thomas splint, the first practical traction splint for femoral fractures, revolutionized the capabilities of military medicine. Its usage in WWI lowered the mortality rate from 80% to nearly 15%. Its development not only shaped modern orthopedics but also established the splint as standard equipment in hospitals worldwide.

RESUMEN

The use of blood transfusion to treat hemorrhagic shock is a relatively new treatment with its origins in World War I. Due to the severity and nature of injuries seen, World War I provided the stimulus to propel medicine forward and accept whole blood transfusion for the trauma patient.