Page 119 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Summer 2016

An Ongoing Series

Prolonged Field Care Working Group Update

Sean Keenan, MD

eflecting on a fantastic meeting at the Special Op- care, demonstrate to the participants some of the finer
Rerations Medical and Scientific Assembly (SOMSA), points of instruction. It was very well attended, with
Charlotte, North Carolina, where the Prolonged Field approximately 100 colleagues from US SOF, NATO
Care Working Group (PFC WG) hosted a few different and partner nation medical forces, and interagency US
offerings, those close to the WG marvel at the efforts of partners. The instructional venue and the opportunity
the many contributors, both in and out of the SOF com- to exchange ideas and opinions was in concert with the
munity, to achieve multiple milestones over the first 2.5 larger Assembly goals of high-value education and the
years of this effort, which originated at Special Opera- concurrent exchange of clinical pearls and best practices
tions Medical Association (SOMA) in December 2013. shared, to ultimately reduce morbidity and mortality in
Some notable achievements include the following: the field environment.

• establishing a website (PFCare.org) in December The WG also held a working meeting during which we
2014 for informal communications and discussions, considered some of the challenges ahead. The SOMA
which has had more than 120,000 hits in 18 months formalized its relationship of sponsoring the WG, with
• establishing a subsection in the Journal of Special Op- a renewed commitment to furthering education, train-
erations Medicine (JSOM) to publish material unique ing, and research specifically focused on the SOF medic
to PFC and Special Operations Forces (SOF) medicine and medical providers. This will provide an opportu-
• motivating a research effort through MRMC that has nity to expand our efforts and provide continuity going
resulted in a recent Broad Area Announcement for forward. LTC Jamie Riesberg, MD, will take over from
more than $47 million in research grants me as the PFC Committee Chair for SOMA and will be
• establishing a direct relationship with the Joint responsible for next year’s SOMSA PFC program. I will
Trauma System and Institute of Surgical Research to continue to coordinate the WG at large, as I step up to
establish a casualty database, multiple prehospital also serve as an at-large board member for SOMA.
Clinical Practice Guidelines (four are in draft form),
and establishment of the Virtual Critical Care Consul- The WG decided to expand the number of Sub-Working
tation (VC3) service Groups. Sub-Working Groups can be formed to tackle
• establishing a reputation as the go-to source for all categories of efforts depending on the overall need. This
things PFC for US SOF, interagency US partners, and new organizational structure will also help focus efforts
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and simultaneously. We have had one group, the Telemedi-
partner-nation SOF forces cine Sub-Working Group, led by MAJ Bill Vasios, PA-C,
SOCAF Deputy Surgeon, over the past year. This effort
This could not have been accomplished without many has been incredibly successful, notably resulting in the
hours of volunteer work from experts with many years establishment of the VC3 service with the team at the
of SOF medical experience. Thank you, all, for your Institute of Surgical Research Burn Unit, led by LTC
congeniality and cooperation on this project! Jeremy Pamplin, MD. Jeremy and his team of intensive
care unit staff physicians provide validated and timely
The PFC WG started the Assembly with a full-day, consultation to deployed SOF providers 24 hours a day,
preconference course designed to dig into the 10 PFC 7 days a week. This initial pilot program has recently
capabilities and have subject-matter experts (SMEs), garnered the support of higher Commands, specifi-
who conduct training in these specific aspects of clinical cally in the Department of Health Affairs, and they are

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