Obstetric complications on deployed operations: a guide for the military surgeon

Abstract

Modern military general surgeons tend to train and then practice in 'conventional' surgical specialties in their home nation; however, the reality of deployed surgical practice, either in a combat zone or on a humanitarian mission, is that they are likely to have to manage patients with a broad range of ages, conditions and pathologies. Obstetric complications of war injury include injury to the uterus and fetus as well as the mother and both placental abruption and uterine rupture are complications that military surgeons may have little experience of recognising and managing. On humanitarian deployments, fetomaternal complications are a common reason for surgical intervention. We report a recent patient's story to highlight the obstetric training needs of military surgeons.

Creation and Evaluation of a Cesarean Section Simulator Training Program for Novice Obstetric Surgeons

“…Obstetric simulation demonstrates positive effects on clinical outcomes for shoulder dystocia, operative vaginal delivery, emergent cesarean delivery, postpartum hemorrhage, and can improve teamwork in response to obstetric emergencies [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Non-obstetricians may benefit from simulation training in the event they need to perform or assist in a cesarean section during a combat deployment, while on a humanitarian mission, or when stationed at a remote facility [10,11]. Simulation may also be useful in rural or low resource areas where an experienced OB/GYN may not be immediately available.…”