Innovation is an important part of the military operations; such as figuring out how to put nuclear reactors inside submarines, and military medicine is no exception. Local military and Veterans Administration medical leadership met this past week to brainstorm ideas on how they can continue to innovate military medicine so they are ready for the fight.
The meeting, hosted by the Air Force’s 4th Medical Group at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, was part of the Eastern Carolina Military Health Care Consortium, which began its work a little more than a year ago. The consortium was created to find ways to maximize resources at military treatment facilities with the goal of finding innovative ways to ensure the readiness of our fighting men and women as well as the medical forces that deploy with them.
Representatives from Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, Womack Army Medical Center, 4th Medical Group, and the Veterans Administration gathered to discuss topics ranging from process improvement techniques, to shared mental health resources. Each unit discussed the challenges they face and areas where they could provide support to other MTFs.
“Our mission is readiness and everything we do must be directly tied to that mission,” said U.S. Navy Captain James Hancock, Commanding Officer of Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune. Hancock, a 32 year navy emergency department physician, spoke of lessons learned he experienced in his combat tours, “We must all train and be ready to take our skills in to combat. That’s why we’re here.”
Air Force Colonel Paul N. Conner, Commander 4th Medical Group explained to the gathered medical professionals about successes his team have achieved through process improvement initiatives moving them towards becoming a High Reliability Organization. One such initiative focused on standardizing dental treatment rooms, down to the layout of each drawer housing medical supplies, resulted in a time savings equivalent to 58 work days per year for a single full time equivalent staff member.
Conner and his staff teach a post-graduate level course on High Reliability Organizations to MTF’s and other organizations, and extended an invitation to the ECHCC to receive the course.
“Our journey to become a HRO is one that we continue to undertake every day,” explained Conner “because we are always looking to improve.” Conner spent several hours highlighting the tools and methods that 4th Medical Group found useful in becoming a HRO.
The Eastern Carolina Military Health Care Consortium was created to build collaborative relationships in health care to our service members, veterans and other beneficiaries.
Through these collaborative efforts, specialty resources such as urology, oncology and mental health assets can be shared, minimizing the need to send patients to providers outside the DoD and VA network.
Benefits that the ECHCC expects to realize include increased force readiness through better skills sustainment for medical professionals, better patient care, and more responsible use of available resources. For more information on the Eastern Carolina Military Health Care Consortium contact Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune public affairs at 910-450-3836.