Scientists, Battlefield Medics Share Ideas

American Forces Press Service ^ | Sarah Maxwell

[SandRat]

ST. PETE’S BEACH, Fla., Aug. 19, 2008 – Scientists and battlefield medical clinicians shared their knowledge and experiences to advance medicine during the military’s premier trauma care conference here. The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command’s annual Advanced Technology Applications for Combat Casualty Care Conference was held Aug. 11 to 15.

What evolved from a disjointed vendor-oriented conference more than 10 years ago with just a couple hundred participants is now an extremely relevant knowledge exchange that has the ability to improve military medicine, said Army Col. Bob Vandre, a former MRMC Combat Casualty Care Program director who organized the conference for more than 1,100 attendees.

“This is the meeting that talks about cutting–edge military trauma medicine,” Vandre said. “Attendees can get the latest ideas and medical inventions here -- things that change the future. Most of the key players in the field come here.”

The conference is vital to improving the military’s combat casualty care program and has contributed to “communities of dialog” between what the clinicians in the field learned and where the researchers need to focus their efforts, Army Col. Jonathan Jaffin, MRMC deputy commander, said as he welcomed the conference participants.

Bringing together the key people who have the influence to change the direction of military medicine has helped the military have better-trained medics and better equipment, among other advancements, he said.

“Operators come in and say, ‘Here’s the problem,’” Vandre explained. “It’s a way to bring the battlefield to the scientists.”

Many conference participants were from the Navy and Air Force, whose services also helped pay for the conference, along with international military trauma experts. After being asked to attend the event five years ago, British army surgeon general Lt. Gen. Louis Lillywhite now comes every year, he said.

“This is increasingly becoming the forum for new clinical systems and performance,” he said.

It was at the Advanced Technology Applications for Combat Casualty Care Conference conference that Lillywhite said he first saw evidence of novel hemostatic bandages, which contain chitosan to stop bleeding. He added that the conference affords the opportunity to see the medical products first hand, which allows him to make a more informed decision about whether they should be fielded in his country.

With the information exchange, he said, he also can find out where the United States military medicine efforts are and adjust his organization’s methods accordingly.

“It facilitates focusing our research into areas where the U.S. isn’t doing research,” Lillywhite said. “Coming here helps us decide where to get greater money for our own research.”

Although he shares a British accent with Lillywhite, Dr. Howard Champion has been in the United States for more than 20 years and is a trauma surgeon who teaches at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.

“The single most valuable thing that comes out of the combat casualty care meeting held each year is that it brings together U.S. and international expertise,” said Champion, who has attended for years.

He said the competence of the attendees at the conference is excellent and that he thinks a big issue for military medicine is training.

“An example is addressing the plan for improved training and how the Army, in particular, is going to ensure competence in the future,” Champion said, noting that many experienced medical professionals transition out of the military after their service commitment.

“As the exceptional training goes away, it’s vitally important to sustain their professional abilities,” Champion said.

Planning was a large part of the conference’s agenda, with research managers and a board of directors made up of external trauma surgeons, as well as other service representatives, guiding the focus of studies.

“We’re talking about 2010 now,” Vandre said. “It’s an executive-level reality check for our program.”

At the conference, Vandre handed off the Combat Casualty Care reins to the new director, Army Col. Dallas Hack. It Hack’s first time attending, and he said the level of collaboration is exceptional.

“All these people are doing great things,” he said. “We’re building a crescendo of results of saving lives and reducing morbidity.”

With a varied background of both operational medicine and strategic leadership teaching, Hack said, it’s exciting to be able to make a difference in future casualty care.

“Combat Casualty Care will continue to push the envelope of saving lives,” he said.

Although the conference is research-focused, Jaffin said, he wanted to make sure all the scientists recognized the people who actually employ the lessons learned on the battlefield to save servicemembers’ lives.

“There’s a dramatic decrease in mortality from previous wars because of the advancements made in trauma care,” he said. “The key has been those medics, those doctors and medical teams doing what they do in horrible conditions.”

(Sarah Maxwell works in the Medical Research and Materiel Command Public Affairs Office.)

[girlangler]

Thank you SandRat, for pinging me on this one.

I think I told you before, I volunteer with a veteran’s organization (vets from Iraq and Afghanistan).

I received a phone call today from a young man who replied to my sending info on a job opportunity. This young man, 29 years old, was hit by an IED in Iraq during his second tour there. He has brain damage, burns over most of his body, and has lost all short term memory.

He also has a wife and a four year old daughter. And he was so excited over this job prospect. I couldn’t tell him his chances were slim, I encouraged him. His voice broke up on the phone after asking me what were his chances for the job. I tried to be cheerful, and encouraging, but his chances are nonexistent.

I am so shook up over this call I can’t hardly write this (am doing so through tears).

I don’t have much money, if I did, I’d be spending it addessing the future needs of the thousands of young men and women coming home with these challenges. There are hundreds of organizations raising money on their behalf, and we have govt. organizations for this.

But these needs aren’t being met. I thought I had problems, feel sorry for myself sometimes. But the conversation today broke my heart, and made me realize how fortunate I am, how few problems I have.

Please pray for this young man. As he explained to me he has leadership experience (was leading a squad of men in war when injured) and has the ambition to want to lead again, I had to fight back my tears, and try to encourage him.

God bless our troops.

[SandRat]

There’s lots you can do to help.

Do you still have his name and phone number? Then help him look by calling around to friends.

Is he close enough to you that you can perhaps just call up and stop by with a friendly smile, a warm heart and perhaps spend some time just being a surrogate Mom/Grandma or just a friendly voice. I’m sure his wife needs a friendly shoulder to talk and just have a good cry on so she can be a strong Mom.

The price for all that to you? Time and a warm heart.

God Bless.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I am hoping civilian medicine improves as well. For example, the military now has a lot of experience with a simple compound that quickly coagulates bloody wounds, small and large.

There are several of these powders out there, but after a brief experiment in drug stores, they are no longer available. Even for a facial wound, known for its high volume of bleeding, you sprinkle some of this stuff directly on the blood (it needs the blood to work, so you don’t clean if off first), apply direct pressure for just 30 seconds, and generally the bleeding stops.

The military grade powder, made from potatoes, will even stop bleeding from a mid-sized artery.

And unlike even bandages, you can use this powder on a wide area deep scrape, like road rash.

It needs to be in a form where it can be used quickly. The stuff in the stores, briefly, was in plastic ampules that were not so hot.