Purpose: Over 3,500 infants and children, many critically ill and injured, have been admitted to military combat support hospitals (CSH) in Afghanistan and Iraq, which are not doctrinally staffed or equipped to provide their care. This report details how the military medical system is adapting to create a data driven and comprehensive response to optimize the medical and surgical pediatric care being provided.
Methods: Information from multiple sources was used over time to craft the military medical response to the pediatric wartime mission. Pediatric data from both the Joint Theater Trauma Registry (JTTR) and the Patient Administration Systems and Biostatistics Activity (PASBA) database were utilized extensively. The resulting educational, supply, and personnel adaptations implemented by the U.S. military will be highlighted, and innovations currently under development will also be described on the basis of this demonstrated need.
Results: This information helped drive pediatric-specific, just-in-time education for CSH personnel, modified CSH equipment and supply lists, inspired the 24/7 pediatric critical care teleconsultation service, and resulted in new initiatives in the predeployment training for CSH personnel.
Conclusion: Military physicians are routinely asked to perform outside their traditional scopes of practice while deployed. Given this reality, military pediatric specialists in medicine and surgery have initiated several successful multidisciplinary programs designed to improve in-theater care of injured children. These innovative efforts include drafting a pediatric addendum to the Army's "Emergency War Surgery" manual, development of instructional compact discs, augmenting and refining the pediatric portion of the Joint Forces Combat Trauma Management course, formation of a pediatric augmentation team to the CSH, and a comprehensive hyperlinked Web-based pediatric critical care and trauma educational platform.