CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Sailors assigned to Expeditionary Medical Facility Kilo (EMF-Kilo) strengthened their expeditionary medical capabilities during a three-day training evolution at Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune's Healthcare Simulation (SIM) and Bioskills Center from June 22–24, 2026.
The training combined classroom instruction with hands-on medical scenarios then culminated in an integrated casualty receiving exercise involving Medical Battalion's En Route Care and Patient Evacuation Team.
"This evolution combined knowledge, skills and abilities with patient scenarios to hone the communication and teamwork our personnel will need to have in any austere environment," said Lt. Cmdr. Claire-Marie Vidrine, command training officer for EMF Kilo.
According to Vidrine and other training participants, the realistic scenarios were designed to strengthen communication, coordination, and teamwork essential to expeditionary patient care.
"The SIM training offered the opportunity for individuals across the casualty care team to come together as a team," said Lt. Cmdr. Justin Frisenda, an osteopathic surgeon with Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune (NMCCL). "Corpsmen, nurses, and physicians across multiple specialties were able to see what it is like to receive casualties, apply resuscitative care, stabilize them, and get them ready for transport to the next echelon of care."
In addition to practicing clinical skills, participants focused on the administrative processes required in expeditionary medicine, a setting in which electronic medical records are often unavailable.
"For this iteration, we spent time focusing on proper documentation," Frisenda said. "Whether it was blood transfusions, ordering labs or submitting patient movement requests, the team executed appropriate administrative controls to maximize patient safety while the patient progressed through the spectrum of care."
The exercise also introduced many junior Sailors to specialized medical procedures and equipment they may encounter during operational deployments.
"Several of the junior enlisted have never been deployed or exposed to specialized care equipment such as cricothyroidotomy and Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta ," Frisenda said. "This training provided a safe environment to apply the practices and principles of this specialized equipment. This sort of controlled exposure can be critical to improving outcomes when the next exposure for these corpsmen and officers may be down range."
EMF-Kilo plans to hopefully be able to conduct similar simulation training on a quarterly basis to ensure its medical teams remain proficient and ready to provide high-quality care wherever the mission requires.
EMF-Kilo is the expeditionary readiness platform attached to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Camp Lejeune and is comprised of approximately hundreds of personnel ready to deploy field hospital capabilities during humanitarian or combat mission.