JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas -- Critical Care staff from Brooke Army Medical Center helped conduct two days of validation training for military doctors from around the country during the first week of September.
Using the resources of BAMC’s Simulation Center, staff conducted validation training for the Army’s Individual Common Task List and Air Force Comprehensive Medical Readiness Program requirements for more than two dozen military internal medicine, or IM, physicians.
“It’s a two-day course,” said Army Maj. (Dr.) Tyson Sjuljin, a member of the pulmonary and critical care staff at BAMC who was one of the instructors for the training. “We did the education portion for day one and then validation on day two.”
Validation consisted of an array of situations conducted in BAMC’s Simulation Center. There, physicians could practice on “dummies” or “patient simulators” in order to demonstrate their proficiency in the skillsets they were practicing during the training.
“While some of the IM staff perform these tasks regularly, other IM subspecialties like gastro and infectious disease, do not routinely see the patients requiring this type of medical intervention,” said Robert V. Coffman, administrative director for BAMC’s Simulation Center. “The use of medical patient simulators will ensure that IM physicians are afforded the opportunity to complete the necessary skills required by their service and provide a chance for those who do not regularly perform these skills to practice in a safe environment.”
In addition to the training at BAMC, doctors attended breakout sessions at JBSA Lackland. Air Force Maj. Kelvin Bush, a BAMC cardiologist, helped coordinate the cardiology breakout session. Current cardiology specialists and interns who were interested in specializing in the field were able to learn about present-day innovations and discuss the possible future of military cardiology.
Sjuljin said the training is mandated for military physicians in order to maintain their proficiency and remain ready for deployment around the world, and the Simulation Center is ideally suited to make that training both relevant and realistic. BAMC trainers sent the invitation to military IM doctors to participate in the training. Approximately 60 percent of the personnel who attended the courses were outside the local area.
The training is currently slated to be conducted on an annual basis with invitations going out DoD-wide. But, it could increase to twice a year if the interest becomes high enough.
“We have a big role in military readiness,” said Army Lt. Col. Micheal A. Odle, who was on the senior leadership panel discussion. “That role is not going to go away.”