Annual Report - Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

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Field ExercisesAs part of their education, USU students take part in a number of field exercises that prepare them to practicemedicine in challenging environments and exercise the leadership skills they will need as uniformed officers.Antietam Road MarchFirst-year medical and nursing students participatein a memorable educational experience designedto teach them the tenets of battlefield health care.The students travel to Antietam National Battlefieldnear Sharpsburg, Maryland, the infamous site ofthe bloodiest one-day battle in American history.They take part in a six-mile road march, stopping atdesignated stations where local Civil War re-enactorsOperation KerkesnerOperation Kerkesner is designed to teach criticalmilitary skills in a simulated battlefield environment.The four-day exercise provides training in areas includingland navigation, hand-to-hand combat, firearmstraining and use of military vehicles and radios. Italso gives students a chance to experience some ofthe challenges of providing medical care in harshenvironments, including starting an IV in a field settingdiscuss conditions and battlefield strategies, andwhere USU faculty members discuss medical aspectsof the battle. The exercise underscores the school’sdistinctive curriculum, and for students with no priormilitary experience, is their first experience walkingcross-country in controlled movements by platoons,and wearing load-bearing gear.and triaging and treating fellow service memberswhile “under fire.”Approximately half of USU students have no prioruniformed services experience. Operation Kerkesnerprovides essential military skills training and servesas an introduction to the challenges of practicingbattlefield medicine.Commander John Love, M.D.,graduated from the USU Schoolof Medicine in 1994 and hasexperienced two deploymentsto Iraq. He was invited to returnto the university to assist withOperation Bushmaster.“It’s not just an exam.Everything you learn isdefinitely applicable towhat you do out there.”- as quoted in the Chronicle ofHigher Education10
Operation BushmasterMany USU graduates credit Operation Bushmasterwith providing some of the most helpful and memorabletraining they received while at the university.The exercise is the culmination of and practicalexam for the rigorous Military and ContingencyMedicine (MCM) course, taken by all fourth-yearSchool of Medicine students, as well as somestudents in the Graduate School of Nursing.The MCM course augments students’ clinicalknowledge with specialized medical educationcovering a broad range of military-relevant topics,including advanced trauma life support, preventivemedicine, patient care in flight, military medicalethics and combat stress control. Students then areput to the test during a four-day simulation exerciseat Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania.Throughout Operation Bushmaster, students live infield conditions, working in groups of roughly 15to run medical units under continually changingconditions. The students set up sites where theyreceive “casualties” (played by first-year students),suffering both routine illnesses and battlefieldinjuries. Students are evaluated by USU faculty ontheir medical knowledge and leadership abilitiesas they rotate through positions as commander,executive officer, medical officer and ambulanceteam leader. When not under evaluation, studentsfill in as medics, radio operators or security personnel,and spend time working in a deployablemedical facility. They also take part in a combatstress rotation designed to familiarize them with andgive them an opportunity to “treat” combat-relatedmental health issues.The event culminates in a dramatic nighttime masscasualty exercise in which students are placedin the scenario of responding to a platoon thathas sustained significant casualties. Under stressful,changing conditions, the students must findthe “wounded” and triage them, treat them andarrange for their evacuation.In total darkness, with only the voices ofthe “wounded” to guide them, the studentsmust locate and retrieve casualties.“No other medical school expectstheir students and graduates tobe able to perform individual andmass casualty care under fire.The skills learned throughout thismonth-long experience have beenapplied directly on the battlefield.”Critical TrainingCaptain Glenn Burns, M.D., is anAssistant Professor in the Departmentof Military and EmergencyMedicine. A USU graduate, Dr.Burns participated in the Militaryand Contingency Medicine courseand Operation Bushmaster as astudent and saw its lessons at workduring his emergency medicineresidency and a tour in Iraq with theU.S. Special Operations Command.Now he is an instructor in thedepartment that runs the course.11
Page 1: UNIFORMED SERVICES UNIVERSITYof the
Page 4 and 5: A HISTORY OF SUCCESSThe American mi
Page 6 and 7: SCHOOL OF MEDICINEUSU’s F. Edward
Page 8 and 9: GRADUATE PROGRAMSGraduate education
Page 10 and 11: Graduate School of NursingThe USU G
Page 14 and 15: leadershipUSU creates scientists an
Page 16 and 17: FACULTYUSU’s distinguished facult
Page 18 and 19: university LifeCAMPUS LIFEIn many w
Page 20 and 21: Year In ReviewRESEARCH WEEKThrougho
Page 22 and 23: Year In ReviewFIGHTING FOR LIFEUSU
Page 24 and 25: ReadinessMilitary readiness require
Page 26 and 27: ResearchIn addition to providing wo
Page 28 and 29: EXPLORING RADIATION RESISTANCERadia
Page 30 and 31: AFRRIArmed Forces Radiobiology Rese
Page 32 and 33: CourageCenter for Disaster and Huma
Page 34 and 35: Looking AheadU.S. academic medicine
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Annual Report - Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

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