A 2-year review of the general internal medicine admissions to the British Role 3 Hospital in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan

Abstract

RCDM/Res/Audit/1036/12/0305.

Medical and DNBI admissions to the Role 3 field hospital at Camp Bastion during Operation Herrick

“…Maj Cox and colleagues should be congratulated for capturing the general medical activity at a deployed Role 3 field hospital during Operation Herrick from 2011 to 2013 1. During my time there as the single deployed physician from March 2010 to May 2010, the admission rate for general medical admissions was double that reported with 221 cases in 7 weeks (∼5 per day), of whom 157 (71%) were judged to have infectious diseases, 18 (8%) were medically evacuated to the UK and none died.…”

“…However, this could probably be done retrospectively and would be worthwhile in view of what the National Audit Office has said about the MOD needing to do more data analysis on this topic 3. Until more detailed figures are available officially, the work of clinicians collecting such data at Role 3 and Role 4 medical facilities1 4 will remain vital and should be fully supported.…”

Deployed military general internal physician’s toolkit: the recent past and near future

“…The workload of military General Internal Medicine (GIM) physicians in the Deployed Hospital Care setting differs considerably from that of a UK NHS hospital environment1. The majority of patients are men, young, have no premorbid disease and recover quickly.…”

“…A previously published record of the workload of the GIM physicians in Afghanistan has documented the presenting symptoms, diagnoses, length of stay and disposal destinations of patients with DNBI presenting to the deployed field hospital 1. The deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan occurred in similar climates with considerable overlap in the endemic environmental or infectious diseases and, therefore, in patient presentation 4.…”

“…The deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan occurred in similar climates with considerable overlap in the endemic environmental or infectious diseases and, therefore, in patient presentation 4. The vast majority of presentations appear to be de nova diseases of largely infectious aetiology 1. A small proportion of the disease burden on operations are secondary to a further presentation of what was, prior to deployment, thought to be an asymptomatic disease (such as recurrent vasovagal syncope).…”