Augmentation of point of injury care: Reducing battlefield mortality-The IDF experience.
Injury
; 47(5): 993-1000, 2016 May.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26725147
ABSTRACT
STUDY OBJECTIVE:
In 2012, the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps (IDF-MC) set a goal of reducing mortality and eliminating preventable death on the battlefield. A force buildup plan entitled "My Brother's Keeper" was launched addressing trauma medicine, training, change of Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs), injury prevention, data collection, global collaboration and more. The aim of this article is to examine how military medical care has evolved due "My Brother's Keeper" between Second Lebanon War (SLW, 2006) to Operation Protective Edge (OPE, 2014).METHODS:
Records of all casualties during OPE and SLW were extracted and analyzed from the I.D.F Trauma Registry. Noncombat injuries and civilian injuries from missile attacks were excluded from this analysis.RESULTS:
The plans main impacts were; incorporation of a physician or paramedic as an integral part of each fighting company, implementation of new CPGs, introduction of new approaches for extremity haemorrhage control and Remote Damage Control Resuscitation at point of injury (POI) using single donor reconstituted freeze dried plasma (25 casualties) and transexamic acid (98 casualties). During OPE, 704 soldiers sustained injuries compared with 833 casualties during SLW. Fatalities were 65 and 119, respectively, cumulating to Case Fatality Rate of 9.2% and 14.3%, respectively.CONCLUSIONS:
Significant changes in the way the IDF-MC provides combat casualty care have been made in recent years. It is the transformation from concept to doctrine and integration into a structured and Goal-Oriented Casualty Care System, especially POI care that led to the unprecedented survival rates in IDF as shown in this conflict.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Wounds and Injuries
/
Point-of-Care Systems
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Guideline Adherence
/
Mass Casualty Incidents
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Military Medicine
/
Military Personnel
Type of study:
Guideline
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
En
Journal:
Injury
Year:
2016
Type:
Article