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This week's featured articles

11/15/2022

A Lost Opportunity: The Use of Unorthodox Training Methods for Prehospital Trauma Care

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McCarthy J, Lauria MJ, Fisher AD. 22(3). 29 - 35. (Journal Article)

Abstract

Prehospital trauma care guidelines and instruction have advanced significantly over the past 20 years. Although there have been efforts to create a standardized approach to instruction, the use of unorthodox techniques that lack supporting evidence persists. Many instructors use unrealistic scenarios, "no-win" scenarios, and unavoidable failing situations to train students. Doing so, however, creates student confusion and frustration and can result in poor skill acquisition. These training techniques should be reconsidered, with focus placed instead on the development of technical skills and far skill transfer. Knowing when to apply the appropriate type and level of stress within a training scenario can maximize student learning and knowledge retention. Furthermore, modalities such as deliberate practice, cognitive load theory (CLT), and stress exposure training (SET) should be incorporated into training. To improve delivery of prehospital trauma education, instructors should adopt evidence-based educational strategies, grounded in educational and cognitive science, that are targeted at developing long-term information retention as well as consistent, accurate, and timely life-saving interventions.

Keywords: training techniques; trauma care; education; teaching; military medicine

PMID: 35862849

DOI: AQU3-F0UP

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Generating Competent Special Operations Clinicians From Military Graduate Medical Education

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Hiller HM, Hill GJ, Shea S, Fernandes J, Earl K, Knight J, Schaffrinna A, Donham B, Allen PB. 22(3). 37 - 41. (Journal Article)

Abstract

Units within the Special Operations Forces (SOF) community require medically competent and operationally proficient medical providers (physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners, among others) to support complex mission sets. The expectations placed on providers who successfully assess for and are selected into these units are high. These providers are not only expected to be experts in their respective subspecialities, but also to serve as staff officers, provide medical direction for SOF medics, serve as medical advisors to the command team, and provide direct medical support for kinetic operations. They are expected to perform these functions with little oversight and guidance and when geographically separated from higher units. Graduates from military Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs are extremely well-educated and can provide high quality medical care. However, they often find themselves ill-prepared for the extra demands placed upon them by the Special Operations community due to a lack of operational exposure. The authors of this paper recognized this gap and propose that the Joint Emergency Medicine Exercise (JEMX) model can help augment the body of knowledge required to perform well as a provider in a Special Operations unit.

Keywords: military graduate medical education; Special Operations; joint emergency medicine exercise

PMID: 35862844

DOI: H073-BKVG

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