Medical Education
- Introduction to Military Medicine Class Schedule
- Combat Medical Skills
- Military Applied Physiology
- Military Medical Field Studies
- Military Studies II
- Military Contigency Medicine
- Electives in Military Medicine and Military Emergency Medicine
- Emergency Medicine
- Continuing Medical Education
The Medical Education Division has primary responsibility for the School of Medicine's curriculum in the discipline of military medicine and the specialty of emergency medicine. This includes administrative implementation and quality oversight of all mandatory and elective courses and clerkships sponsored by the Department of Military & Emergency Medicine at the Uniformed Services University.
The goals of education in clinical military medicine focus on elements that make it a unique medical discipline. These include:
- Environmental medicine, both personnel exposure causing casualties and delivery of care outside the hospital environment
- Trauma management from basic life-saving skills to advanced interventions prior to definitive care
- Preventive medicine and mitigation of other threats to mission accomplishment
- Identification and management of global infectious diseases
- Behavioral sciences related to unique stressors such as combat, low-intensity conflict, and humanitarian assistance
The goals of education in clinical emergency medicine focus on concepts that make emergency medicine a separate medical specialty. Students will gain clinical experience evaluating and managing patients of all ages with undifferentiated complaints and problems of unknown severity. These goals of this clinical clerkship include:
- Learning the initial approach to patients of all ages for whom the diagnosis is not already known or narrowed down to a short list of possibilities.
- Evaluating acute presentations of common injuries and illnesses, devising management plans, and formulating disposition decisions within a variety of healthcare systems.
- Enhancing resuscitation skills and care for critically ill and injured patients.
Achieving these educational goals requires both preclinical preparation and clinical experience in simulated and real-world settings. The curriculum in military studies is spread throughout medical school.
- Military Studies I (MS-I) is composed of five courses over the freshman year of medical school. Listed in chronological order with the percentages of their contributions to the MS-I grade, these include Introduction to Military Medicine (IMM) [15%], Military Medical History [taught by the Department of Medical History] [30%], Combat Medical Skills (CMS) [15%], Military Applied Physiology (MAP) [30%], and Military Medical Field Studies (MMFS) [10%] with its one-week field exercise [Operation Kerkesner] and students' three-week assignments to an operational units in their parent service. The MS-I curriculum is designed to orient and enculturate students to joint health services support of military personnel and units in garrison and deployed environments. IMM introduces students to the systems in place and their future directions. CMS provides all USU medical students with basic and advanced out-of-hospital first-aid skills. MAP adds military specific issues to the traditional physiology course being taught concurrently. MMFS allows students to observe and experience a variety of military medical problems in simulated or supervised settings.
- Military Studies II (MS-II) is composed of two courses in the first block of instruction during the sophomore year of medical school. Listed in chronological order with the percentages of their contributions to the MS-II grade, these include Introduction to Combat Casualty Care (ICCC) [50%] and Introduction to Joint Medical Planning (IJMP) [50%]. ICCC provides initial education related to the pathophysiology of injuries sustained in the combat environment (ballistic, blast, burn, chemicals, etc.). IJMP exposes students to the complexities of planning for force health protection and combat casualty care and evacuation in a deployed setting. Historical examples and simulated exercises are used extensively.
- There are no specific military studies in the junior year of medical school while students complete most of their required clinical clerkships for an M.D. degree.
- Military Studies IV (MS-IV) is composed of two interconnected courses, each lasting four weeks and offered several times throughout students' senior year. The two required courses are Military Contingency Medicine (MCM) and Military Emergency Medicine (MEM). Each are graded independently. There is no combined MS-IV grade. MCM concentrates on challenging students to adjust their concepts of data acquisition, problem diagnosis, treatment, and disposition learned in fixed clinics, hospitals, and medical centers through the beginning of their fourth year. Simulated casualties of combat trauma, disease, and non-battle injury are seen during a one-week field exercise [Operation Bushmaster]. MEM reinforces these concepts related to managing patients in whom the diagnosis is not already known or narrowed down to only a few possibilities prior to the student’s opportunity to independently assess the problem.
The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Undergraduate Education Committee made recommendations for the content of medical school curricula relevant to emergency medicine, which were published through two articles in Acad Emerg Med 1998; 5(11): 1105-1110 & 1110-1113. The Department of Military & Emergency Medicine has included most of SAEM's recommendations throughout the USU medical-school curriculum.
The Education Division also sponsors electives in military skills, military medicine, and emergency medicine. These include pre-established military courses such as the Air Force and Army flight surgeon schools, airborne and air assault schools, the Marine Corps Cold Weather Medicine Course, and many others. Electives in military medicine include clinical rotations in operational medicine (aerospace medicine, dive medicine, unit-level medical command, etc.) or working closely with researchers in operational problems (aerospace tolerance, human performance, etc.). Electives in emergency medicine include additional clinical work in emergency departments, exposure to emergency subspecialties such as pediatrics or toxicology, and opportunities for research in related fields.
Contact Information
Uniformed Services University
Main Office: C1039
4301 Jones Bridge Road
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Phone (301) 295-3720
DSN: 295 3720
Toll Free: 888 826-3126
FAX (301) 295-6773
Resources
Programs
- Consortium for Health & Military Performance (CHAMP)
- Center for Disaster & Humanitarian Assistance Medicine
- Human Performance Laboratory
- Traumatic Injury Research Program