Lessons Learned From Dutch Deployed Surgeons and Anesthesiologists to Afghanistan: 2006–2010

Abstract

A standardized predeployment training program to prepare Dutch surgeons and anesthesiologists for combat surgery is currently lacking. These results emphasize the need for a standardized predeployment medical training, despite high levels of perceived preparedness. Also, the high mental and psychological impact on the deployed surgeons and anesthesiologists warrants further assessment.

Impact of combat events on first responders: Experiences of the armed conflict in Uruzgan, Afghanistan

“…Almost ninety percent of the participants were aged between 20 and 40. The mean number of deployments (duration 28 days) of the participants was 2 (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). Ninety one percent of the participants were still in active duty.…”

“…The first part of the questionnaire (Supplemental data 2) was based on current literature [2,4,5,10,13], and screened for validity and relevance by an expert board of Dutch military medical specialists (Delphi method). It focused on three main topics: (1) participants general background, (2) exposure to combat (casualty) situations, and (3) self-perceived QoC in the pre-hospital phase (QoC was described as the subjective judgment by the participants, and expressed in a numeric variable from 1 [low] to 10 [high]; in this study we defined a score of 7 as average).…”

“…Afghanistan [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. The Netherlands was lead nation in Uruzgan province between 2006 and 2010, deploying Task Force Uruzgan (TFU).…”

“…The Netherlands was lead nation in Uruzgan province between 2006 and 2010, deploying Task Force Uruzgan (TFU). During that period, Dutch service members were frequently exposed to high intensity combat [1][2][3][4][5]. The medical support organisation (MSO) in Southern Afghanistan during the ISAF operations was a multinational joint service with a wide range of capabilities, delivering care in a hostile and austere environment.…”

Portable ultrasound in disaster triage: a focused review

“…Ultrasound has been used in military deployments in Kuwait, Iraq, Kosovo, and Afghanistan mostly with small, portable units [57,60,[106][107][108][109][110][111]. Data from ultrasound use during the Iraq conflict demonstrate a high sensitivity and specificity in identifying injuries sustained from both blunt and penetrating trauma, as confirmed by later computed tomography (CT) scans [60].…”