A critical care air transport team in action at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan (U.S. Air Force)
During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American military reengineered its approach to every aspect of combat-casualty care. Battlefield tourniquets were redesigned and soldiers trained in their quick application; forward surgical teams performed damage-control procedures; critical-care medics and nurses supplemented the crew of MEDEVAC helicopters; massive C-17 aircraft were transformed into flying intensive care units; and major advances were made in limb reconstruction and prosthetics. Treatment also improved for survivors of traumatic brain injury and PTSD.
As a result of these and other improvements, innovations, and new technologies, the military achieved the highest rate of survival from battlefield wounds in history. Many of these developments are now finding their way into civilian healthcare. Three military doctors who served during the wars discuss the genesis of these advances and their potential applications beyond military medicine.
Panelists include Col. Melissa (Missy) Givens, an Army emergency physician; Capt. Eric Elster, chair of the USU-Walter Reed department of surgery; and retired Col. Paul F. Pasquina, chair of USU’s department of physical medicine and rehabilitation and head of rehabilitation at Walter Reed.
The session is moderated by Art Kellermann, dean of the USU School of Medicine, a member of the National Academy of Medicine, and co-editor (with Elster) of Out of the Crucible: How the US Military Transformed Combat Casualty Care in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Smithsonian Connections
At the Smithsonian’s 2017 Military Invention Day, visitors experienced how military innovation is helping society in a variety of areas, including the development of prosthetics.
