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Military Medicine Jul 2023
Topics: Humans; Military Medicine; Military Personnel
PubMed: 37207366
DOI: 10.1093/milmed/usad135 -
Journal of Special Operations Medicine... Jun 2023Special Operations medicine must provide highly reliable healthcare under intense and sometimes dangerous circumstances. In turn, it is important to understand the...
Special Operations medicine must provide highly reliable healthcare under intense and sometimes dangerous circumstances. In turn, it is important to understand the principles inherent to building a High Reliability Organization (HRO). These principles include (1) sensitivity to operations; (2) preoccupation with failure; (3) reluctance to simplify; (4) resilience; and (5) deference to expertise. Understanding them is crucial to turning good ideas into sound practical benefit in operational medicine. A prime teaching opportunity involves an interesting coincidence that occurred during the emergence of HROs. Specifically, United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) adopted five Special Operations Forces (SOF) Truths that contribute to success in Special Operations, including (1) humans are more important than hardware; (2) quality is better than quantity; (3) SOF cannot be mass produced; (4) competent SOF cannot be created after emergencies occur; and (5) most Special Operations require non-SOF support. These five Truths have more in common with the five HRO principles than merely quantity. They describe the same underlying ideas with a key focus on human performance in high-risk activities. As such, when presented alongside the five HRO principles, there is an opportunity to improve the overall health and performance of SOF personnel by integrating these principles across the range of Special Operations medicine from point of injury care to garrison human performance initiatives. The following discussion describes in greater detail the five HRO principles, the five SOF Truths, and how these similar ideas emerged as more than just a useful coincidence in illustrating the key concepts to produce high performance.
Topics: Humans; United States; High Reliability Organizations; Reproducibility of Results; Delivery of Health Care; Military Personnel; Workforce
PubMed: 37126777
DOI: 10.55460/HOBU-RZGM -
Journal of Mental Health (Abingdon,... Feb 2023Some cognitive biases, such as excessive attention to threat, are associated with PTSD. However, they may be adaptive for military personnel; attending to threat may...
BACKGROUND
Some cognitive biases, such as excessive attention to threat, are associated with PTSD. However, they may be adaptive for military personnel; attending to threat may improve safety for deployed personnel.
AIMS
The extent to which military personnel with vs. without PTSD differ with respect to specific cognitive biases is currently unclear. This systematic review aimed to address this question.
METHODS
PRISMA guidelines were followed. Articles were identified using a comprehensive literature search; 21 studies (with 1977 participants) were reviewed.
RESULTS
All studies were of "moderate" or "strong" quality. Military personnel with vs. without PTSD used overgeneralised language when describing autobiographical memories and demonstrated impaired performance on a modified Stroop task. Studies using dot-probe paradigms conceptualised attentional response as a dynamic process, fluctuating between bias towards and away from threat; military personnel with vs. without PTSD demonstrated greater fluctuation. Studies using visual search tasks concluded that attentional bias in PTSD involves interference (difficulty disengaging from threat) rather than facilitation (enhanced threat detection). Finally, personnel with vs. without PTSD demonstrated interpretation bias, completing ambiguous sentences with negative rather than neutral endings.
CONCLUSION
The implications for military populations and recommendations for further research and clinical practice are considered.
PROSPERO REGISTRATION
PROSPERO 2018 CRD42018092235.
Topics: Humans; Military Personnel; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Bias; Cognition
PubMed: 32437214
DOI: 10.1080/09638237.2020.1766000 -
Chinese Journal of Traumatology =... Jul 2022Military training is intense, difficult and often dangerous, so all kinds of injuries or diseases frequently occur during training. Most of the previous studies and... (Review)
Review
Military training is intense, difficult and often dangerous, so all kinds of injuries or diseases frequently occur during training. Most of the previous studies and reviews on military training-related injuries focused on musculoskeletal system, whereas there are no reviews of abdominal injuries and diseases. Although the incidence of military training-related abdominal injuries and diseases is relatively low, the patients' condition is often critical especially in the presence of abdominal organ injury, leading to multi-organ dysfunction syndrome and even death. This paper elaborates on common types of military training-related abdominal injuries and diseases as well as the prevention and treatment measures, which provides some basis for scientific and reasonable training and improvement of medical security.
Topics: Abdominal Injuries; Humans; Incidence; Military Personnel; Musculoskeletal System; Wounds and Injuries
PubMed: 35331607
DOI: 10.1016/j.cjtee.2022.03.002 -
Stress and Health : Journal of the... Sep 2023Military personnel experience training and operational demands that are different from civilian populations, including frequent deployment, exposure to austere... (Review)
Review
Military personnel experience training and operational demands that are different from civilian populations, including frequent deployment, exposure to austere environments, and dislocation from family. These unique occupational demands may result in negative impacts on health, performance, and career success. As such, resilience, defined as a system's capacity to resist, recover, recover better, or adapt, to perturbation from a challenge or stressor, is a critical factor in assuring the health and safety of military personnel. In recent years, the Department of Defense (DoD) has funded research programs assessing the physiological basis of resilience. This review will overview research programs, review salient findings from recent studies, and highlight potential future areas of research. Physiological factors influencing or predicting resilience in US military populations, including physical performance, anthropometrics and body composition, nutrition and dietary supplements, and other biomarkers will be highlighted. Finally, this manuscript will detail potential future studies, including interventions, aimed at optimising physiological resilience in military personnel.
Topics: Humans; Military Personnel; Resilience, Psychological
PubMed: 37395310
DOI: 10.1002/smi.3271 -
Journal of the American Association of... Nov 2020Transgender individuals have a long-standing history of honorable service in the United States Military. However, politics have had an impact on their ability to openly...
Transgender individuals have a long-standing history of honorable service in the United States Military. However, politics have had an impact on their ability to openly serve in uniform as policies continually change rapidly with each new administration. This article describes the shifting political landscape of policies related to whether (or not) transgender individuals can serve in the military, and how this has affected the health care experiences of transgender individuals and the ability for nurse practitioners to provide quality health care to the transgender population serving on active duty.
Topics: Humans; Military Medicine; Military Personnel; Transgender Persons; United States
PubMed: 33177337
DOI: 10.1097/JXX.0000000000000519 -
Current Psychiatry Reports Dec 2022Problematic anger is common in veteran and military populations, yet understudied relative to other mental health difficulties. However, in recent years, more clinical... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF REVIEW
Problematic anger is common in veteran and military populations, yet understudied relative to other mental health difficulties. However, in recent years, more clinical and research attention has been turned to problematic anger. This paper highlights important new findings in the epidemiology, course, and neurobiology of anger, the associations of anger with other mental health problems and risk, and next steps for research and practice.
RECENT FINDINGS
In longitudinal research, findings show that problematic anger changes over the life course of military members and veterans, and that deployment increases the likelihood of problematic levels of anger. Problematic anger is related to a range of mental health issues, most perniciously aggression and suicidality. Promising new assessment and treatment approaches are emerging, including innovations that leverage digital technology. Key areas of research include advancing assessment of problematic anger to identify patterns of heterogeneity, as well as advancing the evidence base for anger treatments. Recommended progress in clinical practice include conducting routine assessment of problematic anger in veteran and military populations, developing prevention and early intervention for at risk individuals, and optimizing the timing of interventions throughout the military lifecycle.
Topics: Humans; Military Personnel; Anger; Emotions; Veterans; Aggression
PubMed: 36445637
DOI: 10.1007/s11920-022-01380-x -
BMJ Military Health Feb 2020This review presents the UK Defence Medical Services' involvement in non-combatant evacuation operations (NEOs) in the last two decades. It examines the key medical... (Review)
Review
This review presents the UK Defence Medical Services' involvement in non-combatant evacuation operations (NEOs) in the last two decades. It examines the key medical lessons identified from those operations from publications and witness statements, and discusses key aspects that medical commanders and clinicians should consider in the future, particularly preparation, training and equipping personnel and units for future NEOs. The majority of those UK medical assets that are likely to deploy on NEOs have little or no NEO training and are ill equipped to deal with the common non-battlefield casualties seen in NEOs. Medical management of the elderly, paediatrics, chronic disease and infectious diseases are particular capability gaps.
Topics: History, 21st Century; Humans; Military Deployment; Military Medicine; Military Personnel; United Kingdom
PubMed: 31292153
DOI: 10.1136/jramc-2018-000986 -
Military Psychology : the Official... 2023Criterion identification and measurement is often an afterthought in criterion-related validation research. Yet it is essential in determining what predictor measures to...
Criterion identification and measurement is often an afterthought in criterion-related validation research. Yet it is essential in determining what predictor measures to use in operational settings. Accordingly, this special issue discusses recent advances in addressing the "criterion problem" in U.S. military enlisted personnel selection and classification research. In this introductory paper, broad issues regarding criterion identification and measurement in the military and previous research on this topic are reviewed and subsequent papers, which address specific criterion issues and describe an unprecedented joint-service criterion project, are introduced.
Topics: Humans; Military Personnel; Personnel Selection
PubMed: 37352445
DOI: 10.1080/08995605.2022.2050158 -
Military Medicine Dec 2021Genetic counseling for military beneficiaries poses unique challenges and counseling opportunities. In order to fully meet the needs of this population, genetic... (Review)
Review
Genetic counseling for military beneficiaries poses unique challenges and counseling opportunities. In order to fully meet the needs of this population, genetic counseling involves critical ethical and psychosocial considerations. This article reviews some elements of genetic counseling that must be considered when working with beneficiaries in the military health system.
Topics: Counseling; Genetic Counseling; Humans; Military Personnel
PubMed: 34967403
DOI: 10.1093/milmed/usab007