Naval Health Research Center’s Epidemiology Medical Research Team Assists Trauma Doctors to Inform on Operationally Relevant Field Strategies

Photo By Amanda Wagner | Presenting at MHSRS, Cdr. Jonathan Auten, director Combat Trauma Research Group West, Naval Medical Center San Diego, discusses the significance of good data and successful collaborations at the "Acute Lifesaving Trauma Interventions" breakout session  

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES

08.27.2019

Story by John Marciano 

Naval Health Research Center

The Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS), the Department of Defense’s premier scientific meeting, had another successful annual conference this year. MHSRS provides a venue for 3,000 research colleagues to present and discuss new scientific findings resulting from military medical research and development from all five branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, and various international collaborators. The four-day event provides for networking, rich discussion and an opportunity to inform command staff at the highest levels of the Military Health System (MHS).

The theme this year was research related to warfighter medical readiness, expeditionary medical readiness, warfighter performance, and return to duty. The Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) presented research related to each of these four pillars, including a collaborative effort between NHRC’s Operational Readiness & Health directorate and Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD).

Working together with NHRC’s Medical Modeling, Simulation, and Mission Support department, enabled Cdr. Jonathan Auten, an emergency medicine physician, and director, Combat Trauma Research Group West at NMCSD, to conduct his study via access to high-quality clinical data provided by NHRC. This data-set, known as the Expeditionary Medical Encounter Dataset (EMED), comprises information on sick and injured personnel during deployment and through definitive and rehabilitative care. NHRC integrates this information with other DoD data-sets including tactical, MHS, and personnel-related data-sets. This integration becomes a large comprehensive data repository from which researchers across the tri-services can access through collaborations with NHRC. “The EMED has allowed us to answer combat trauma-related clinical questions unique to the Role 2 environment,” said Auten, who discussed the significance of successful collaborations at the “Acute Lifesaving Trauma Interventions” breakout session and presented findings from his study on Rapid Sequence Induction Strategies. The results of such studies, based on the best available data, can help shape and inform future DoD medical policies and clinical practices.

“The experience of collaborating with NHRC has been invaluable for the residents and staff physicians in the Combat Trauma Research Group (CTRG) West,’ said Auten. “One benefit of collaboration is it exposes our junior staff and residents to sacrifices and innovation that have been made and continue to be made by our servicemen and women in combat operations. This important aspect of the collaboration between CTRG West and NHRC allows us to work towards our shared goal of zero preventable deaths on the battlefield, while simultaneously passing on lessons learned to our next generation of nursing and physician leaders.”

NHRC’s mission is to optimize the operational readiness and health of our armed forces and families by conducting research, development, testing and evaluation to inform Department of Defense (DoD) policy. NHRC supports military mission readiness with research and development that delivers high-value, high-impact solutions to the health and readiness challenges our military population faces on the battlefield, at sea, on foreign shores and at home. NHRC’s team of distinguished scientists and researchers consists of active duty service members, federal civil service employees and contractors, whose expertise includes physiology, microbiology, psychology, epidemiology, and biomedical engineering.





-NHRC-

• Date Taken: 08.27.2019
• Date Posted: 08.27.2019 19:32
• Story ID: 337653
• Location: SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, US