Citation

Antebi B, Benov A, Mann-Salinas EA, Le TD, Cancio LC, Wenke JC, Paran H, Yitzhak A, Tarif B, Gross KR, Dagan D, Glassberg E. J. Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2016; 81(5 Suppl 2 Proceedings of the 2015 Military Health System Research Symposium): S87-S94.

Affiliation

1 US Army Institute of Surgical Research, JBSA, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, USA 2 Department of Surgery "A", Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba and the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel. 3 Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps (IDF-MC), Ramat Gan, Israel 4 Department of Military Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel 5 The Geneva Foundation, Tacoma, WA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/TA.0000000000001252

PMID

27602905

Abstract

BACKGROUND: As new conflicts emerge and enemies evolve, military medical organizations worldwide must adopt the 'lessons learned'. In this study we describe roles of care (ROC) deployed and injuries sustained by both US and Israeli militaries during recent conflicts. The purpose of this collaborative work is facilitate exchange of medical data among allied forces in order to advance military medicine and facilitate strategic readiness for future military engagements that may involve less predictable situations of evacuation and care, such as prolonged field care.

METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted for the periods of 2003 to 2014 from data retrieved from the Department of Defense Trauma Registry and the Israel Defense Force (IDF) Trauma Registry. Comparative analyses included ROC capabilities, casualties who died of wounds (DOW), as well as mechanism of injury, anatomical wound distribution and, and injury severity score (ISS) of US and IDF casualties during recent conflicts.

RESULTS: Although concept of ROC was similar among militaries, the IDF supports increased capabilities at POI and Role 1 including the presence of physicians, but with limited deployment of other ROC; conversely, the US maintains fewer capabilities at Role 1, but utilized the entire spectrum of care, including extensive deployment of Roles 2/2+, during recent conflicts. Casualties from US Forces (n=19,005) and IDF (n=2,637) exhibited significant differences in patterns of injury with higher proportions of casualties who DOW in the US Forces (4%) compared to the IDF (0.6%).

CONCLUSIONS: As these data suggest deployed ROC and injury patterns of US and Israeli militaries were both conflict- and system-specific. We envision that identification of discordant factors and common medical strategies of the two militaries will enable strategic readiness for future conflicts as well as foster further collaboration among allied forces with the overarching universal goal of eliminating preventable death on the battlefield.

Language: en