Medical simulation training: Targeting medical skills to emulate real-time field injuries

Abstract

Technological advances in modern warfare continue to bring about rapid change in how the military tracks injuries and how the military cares for field injuries. Simulation training experiences should be evaluated on a regular basis, adjusted and adapted to provide crucial training to treat injuries that are happening in the field in real-time. Medical simulation training is only useful to medical professionals if those receiving the training are utilizing medical skills relevant to their patient population. It is important for military medical simulation training curriculums to be flexible and smart. Military medical simulation for the field needs to be updated and tailored to task train medical personnel to care for injuries that are occurring in the field in real-time. Military medical personnel must be able to learn the skill quickly in order to establish a high level of competency before being deployed in the field. This research endeavor was to determine if military medical simulation techniques taught in the current training environment reflect the needed medical skills seen in the Pre-Hospital Trauma Registry (PHTR) data. Tracking injury patterns in the field is crucial not only to determine if current simulation training is accurately mimicking field scenarios, but also to determine if there have been changes in injury patterns since the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This information will facilitate changes/ updates in simulation task based training curriculums and research to ensure full competency and complete readiness of medical forces which will result in the best care possible for the injured war-fighter.