Combat medic

Includes self-aid, buddy aid, and combat lifesaver skills. Also includes emergency medical treatment provided by combat medics and corpsmen and advanced trauma management provided by physicians and physician assistants. Highest level treatment capability Army medical platoons (battalion aid stations) and USMC shock trauma platoons. 

A. Criteria. The capability for medical evacuation, the intensity of the battle, tactical need, and the patient will determine if he will be evacuated or will remain engaged. A visual function assessment, as well as other findings such as hemorrhage, will be used to determine the soldiers duty status. The combat lifesaver and combat medic must consider the soldier s need for evaluation by a physician/PA (to include an ophtholomoscopic examination). From this information, one can determine the need for evacuation of the patient. Ground ambulance is the preferred method of evacuation the lack of urgency for treatment does not justify aeromedical evacuation. See FM 8-10-6 for additional information on evacuation. 

Evaluation of Suspected Laser Injuries. Evaluation of possible laser injuries requires a search for specific findings on physical examination. The medic must determine quickly if the affected soldier is fit to return to duty or if he should be referred to the battalion aid station for further evaluation and/or treatment. The combat lifesaver and combat medic laser eye injury evaluation matrix (Figure 6-G) is a reproduction from FM 8-50. 

FM 8-50. Prevention and Medical Management of Laser Injuries. 8 August 1990. This field manual provides basic preventive, protective, and diagnostic information on laser injuries. The treatment procedures described herein are for use by combat medics, battalion aid station personnel, and other medical treatment facilities without an Ophthalmologist. Also, an evaluation matrix is provided for use by combat lifesavers and combat medics. 

Echelon I medical care, found at the unit level and all higher levels, consists of ATM, sick call, and evacuation capability provided by the medical platoon/ section organic to combat maneuver battalions and to some combat support battalions. Major emphasis is placed on those measures necessary to resuscitate, stabilize, and prepare for the evacuation of the casualty to the next higher echelon of care. This care may be in the form of self-aid/buddy aid or it may be treatment provided by the combat lifesaver or the combat medic. 

Emergency medical treatment, first aid, self-aid, buddy aid Combat medic, combat lifesaver, all soldiers ... 

In the mid-nineteenth century, it was the custom for doctors to frequently prescribe morphine (first isolated from opium by Friedrich Serturner in 1806) and other opium preparations. Morphine did not have a major impact on medical practice until the invention of the hypodermic needle in 1840. Soldiers illness was recognized after the Civil War when more than 50,000 veterans became dependent on morphine as a result of treatment for combat injuries (Musto 1987). The public also had ready access to opium and purified drugs in grocery stores and pharmacies. Medicinal mixtures and nostrums, usually unlabelled as to contents, often contained opium or morphine. By the end of the century, many physicians had come to recognize that chronic use of morphine was a disorder (morphinism), although others in society... 

Ingestion Seek medical attention immediately carry on duties as vigorously as possible this will help to lessen and shorten the symptoms combat duties usually can be performed in spite of the effects of stemutators. 

Combating Terrorism Chemical and Biological Medical Supplies Are Poorly Managed. Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Accounting Office (AIMD-00-36, Oct. 29), 1999. 

Z, on the other hand, thought it would be a very good idea. He argued that the restraints wouldn t have bothered him, since he wouldn t have known what was happening anyway and wouldn t remember it later. The men all agreed, however, that the mistakes they made in attempting to fulfill their assignments would seriously impair their usefulness in an authentic combat situation. They were also emphatic that if two, instead of one, had received Z s dose, the unit would have been completely disabled in the absence of medical assistance. 

The search for chemical compounds that will cure disease, alleviate pain, or otherwise extend human life and make it more comfortable and pleasurable has been a part of human culture as far back as we know. Those who practice forms of traditional medicine have, over the centuries, developed extensive and sophisticated pharmacopoeias that contain many such compounds extracted from plants, animals, and minerals in their surrounding environments. Modern medical researchers have developed their own treasure chests of drugs, many of which have been derived from traditional medicines, and many others of which have been synthesized from basic materials, often by way of complex chemical reactions. Even after thousands of years of drug research, however, healers are not completely satisfied with the armory of chemicals available for their use. People are constantly searching for new compounds that will act more efficiently and more safely than existing pharmaceuticals and for substances with which to combat new forms of disease. 

Thiokol was developed by J.C. Patrick in 1926. Patrick was born in 1892 in Jefferson County, Missouri. He was a physician rather than a chemist. Before completing his medical school studies World War I began and he tried to join the U.S. Air Corps. Because of poor health, he could not meet the standards for combat service but was accepted in the U.S. Medical Corps... 

To date, the majority of gene therapy trials undertaken aim to cure not inherited genetic defects, but cancer. The average annual incidence of cancer reported in the USA alone stands at ca. 1.4 million cases. Survival rates attained by pursuit of conventional therapeutic strategies (surgery, chemo-therapy, radio-therapy) stands at about 50%. Gene therapy will likely provide the medical community with an additional therapeutic tool with which to combat cancer within the next 10-15 years. 

It is on this basis that WHO has lead the establishment of the International Medical Product Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce, IMPACT (www.who.int/ impact). IMPACT aims at gathering and mobilizing all key stakeholders at the international, regional and national level in order to effectively combat counterfeit medicines within the guiding principles enshrined in the Declaration of Rome (Box 7). 

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