Long before entering a war zone, soldiers in the armed forces spend months training in situations that mimic battlefield conditions. Military medical personnel-from pararescuers who jump out of helicopters behind enemy lines to anesthesiologists who work behind the scenes-need similar preparation.
While there can be no exact peacetime equivalent to treating patients on the battlefield, military medical teams are more fully preparing for the experience in a groundbreaking new program that pairs Air Force medical personnel with Saint Louis University trauma doctors and hospital nurses to help care for patients with injuries the teams are likely to encounter during wartime.
The program - which involves physicians, nurses and medics from the active duty Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Medical Service - got underway under way recently at Saint Louis University.
"After the Gulf War, the Department of Defense realized a significant proportion of the physicians, nurses and medics sent to the war zone lacked experience in the field of trauma care," said Jeffrey Bailey, M.D., an Air Force Major who is an assistant professor of surgery at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.
Bailey said this partly is because, during peacetime, many medical personnel are stationed in smaller hospitals where they don't experience the variety and sheer number of cases doctors see at a trauma center such as the one at Saint Louis University Hospital, the only Level I Trauma Center certified for both Missouri and Illinois.
Called the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (CSTARS), the new program is designed to ensure military medical teams are more fully prepared for the rigors of combat medicine before they deploy to potentially hostile environments. The military doctors will work under the supervision of Saint Louis University trauma doctors during two-week rotations at SLU Hospital.
In addition, Air Force medics will "ride along" as pre-hospital first responders in association with the St. Louis Fire Department and the Air Rescue Consortium of Hospitals (ARCH). The St. Louis CSTARS program originally was established at SSM DePaul Medical Center primarily to provide training to first responders, but was moved to Saint Louis University Hospital so the military doctors, nurses and medics could work with surgeons at a Level-1 trauma center.
At the hospital, military physicians conduct clinical rotations with SLU faculty members. They also take part in weekly simulation sessions, during which they practice treating artificial, computerized patients in a clinical setting like the Expeditionary Medical Support (EMEDS) units used in a war zone.
Lonnie Frei, M.D., is medical director of trauma services at Saint Louis University Hospital, which is the third institution in the country to participate in the CSTARS program.
"The C-STARS program is of value to the larger community in that we are preparing physicians to care for the victims of trauma, whether on the battlefield or on home turf. Its value to the local community is a recognition of the excellent surgical program here at Saint Louis University," he said.
Established in 1836, Saint Louis University School of Medicine has the distinction of awarding the first M.D. degree west of the Mississippi River. Saint Louis University School of Medicine is a pioneer in geriatric medicine, organ transplantation, chronic disease prevention, cardiovascular disease, neurosciences and vaccine research, among others. The School of Medicine trains physicians and biomedical scientists, conducts medical research, and provides health services on a local, national and international level.
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