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Calling All Doctors!

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army medical command

By Debbie Gregory.

The Army Wants You!  The United States Army Medical Command is aggressively recruiting physicians and reaching out to medical schools.   The Army Medical Command has used the online recruitment advertising services of MilitaryConnection.com in the past.   One of our major areas of focus is healthcare recruitment including doctors and psychiatrists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, and all types of allied healthcare professionals.

Military Connection has been named a Top 100 Employment Web Site for six years and is well respected within the military and veteran communities.   We have a significant reach with robust traffic, a database of hundreds of thousands of emails and almost 700,000 combined fans and followers on social media.  We offer many effective online recruitment advertising options for both civilian healthcare professionals and military healthcare professionals.

The Army offers the opportunity to not only serve your nation with critical life-saving skills across the globe, but also outstanding benefits.   One benefit may include the opportunity to get out from under student loans.   With medical school being so expensive, this potential benefit holds a great deal of appeal to doctors and medical students alike.

For more adventurous doctors, the Army offers the opportunity for adrenaline-seeking surgeons to jump out of an aircraft and perform surgeries in the middle of a combat zone.

Army leaders are encouraging premedical school students and medical residents to consider careers in the Army. There are more than 90 medical concentrations in the Army, including trauma life support, head and neck specialists, and preventative medicine.

Fort Bragg’s 44th Medical Brigade is a small surgical team that has the ability to mobilize and deploy within 18 hours.

They can perform as many as 30 surgeries in three days.

The Army allows greater career diversity, including research opportunities, said Lt. Col. Kevin Smith of the 2nd Medical Recruiting Battalion.

Smith emphasized that the active-duty component needs emergency physicians, family medicine physicians, general surgeons and psychiatrists.

“You can’t always evacuate a soldier, Smith said. “You need to be able to treat them on the battlefield.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Health of the Force Report Reveals the State of Army Medicine

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By Debbie Gregory.

The Office of the Army Surgeon General has released the inaugural Health of the Force (HOF) report, which provides a snapshot of the health of active duty Soldiers on U.S. based installations in 2014.

The Health of the Force report, released by Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) has tracked and collected health care data, showing the progress and needs of today’s soldiers. Key data regarding injuries, behavioral health, chronic disease, obesity, tobacco use, sleep disorders, hospital admissions, and other health measures has been invaluable in evaluating troop readiness.

In his first message to the force upon becoming Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Mark Milley stated, “We must ensure the Army remains ready as the world’s premier combat force. Readiness for ground combat is — and will remain — the U.S. Army’s #1 priority. We will always be ready to fight today, and we will always prepare to fight tomorrow.”

According to the report, medical readiness was achieved by 83 percent of Soldiers, with injuries affecting nearly 300,000 Soldiers annually. Approximately 15 percent of Soldiers had a diagnosed behavioral health disorder, including adjustment disorder, mood disorders and anxiety disorders.

Many of these issues can be attributed to inadequate sleep, affecting the approximate 33 percent of Soldiers who get five hours or less of sleep per night and the approximate 62 percent of Soldiers who get less than seven hours. Inadequate sleep increases the likelihood of injuries, behavior disorders, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and depression.

And, the report notes very sobering information that “individuals who routinely get five to six hours of sleep perform much like a person with a blood alcohol content of 0.08.”

Army Leaders now have the “Health of the Force” to track the health of the Army, installation by installation, and to share lessons learned for those installations on different ends of the health spectrum.

Those who serve our nation, past and present, deserve the best healthcare available. The MilitaryConnection.com Military Medicine page has outstanding articles and resources for anyone who wants additional information.

Preventing Substance Abuse in Today’s Army

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Cynthia Hamala, part of Fort Lee’s Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program, briefs Soldiers from Foxtrot Company, 16th Ordnance Battalion, 59th Ord. Brigade, about the ASAP within the Army. (Contributed Photo)

By Debbie Gregory.

The Army has decided to put medical officials back in charge of drug and alcohol abuse treatment for soldiers. Approximately 20,000 soldiers are screened each year for substance abuse.

While many of us know that a growing percentage of veterans struggle with addiction and excessive alcohol use, many of us may not know that the problems often begin during active duty. The stress of repeated deployments, long absences from loved ones, combat exposure, and, for too many women, sexual assault, all take their toll.

Army Secretary John McHugh decided to shift oversight of the program back to the Army Medical Command from the Installation Management Command after it was determined that close to 50% of those who needed treatment were deemed to be healthy, and denied treatment.

The Army is looking to fix the system that broke it shifted command of the program from medical to nonmedical leadership. That’s when program goals shifted from an emphasis on the treatment of each individual to filling “slots” and getting reports in on time. This resulted in an exodus of clinicians, increased vacancies, eroding care, and subsequently, poorer outcomes.

The Army plans to integrate substance-abuse counselors within mental health clinics that are embedded within combat brigades. The reasoning is two-fold: it will make care more accessible, while reducing the stigma of needing help. Currently, substance abuse counselors work in separate clinics on each Army base.

“What we have found is that our soldiers are more willing to go into an embedded behavioral health facility to be seen,” said Maj. Gen. Jimmie Keenan, deputy commander for operation under the Medical Command.

The reorganization of these substance abuse programs under Army Medical Command– which is expected to be complete by October 2016, and is being lauded by experts and advocates alike.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve, and their families.


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