Page 12 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Summer 2016

from the
PUBLISHER and EDITOR

(continued from page i)

We sincerely hope that our efforts over the past few have implications for the quality of trauma care both
months will go a long way to improving your experience within the DoD and in the civilian setting, where adop-
on our website. tion of military advances in trauma care has become
increasingly common and necessary to improve the re-
Subscriptions Changes: We are restructuring our sub- sponse to multiple civilian casualty events.
scriptions to make things a bit easier for everyone.
There are two major changes coming. First, we will be A committee of the National Academies of Science,
Michelle DuGuay Landers
combining our Digital and Tablet subscriptions. Under Engineering, and Medicine (formerly the Institute of
the current plan, if you have a Digital Subscription, you Medicine) has been working for the past 2 years on a
will have access to the Flipbook version of the journal report about combat casualty care lessons learned in the
regardless of the device you are using, and if you have US Military during these recent conflicts. This report
a Tablet subscription, you will be able to download the documents the remarkable decrease in casualties Killed
journal for offline reading, but you cannot access the in Action during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and
Flipbook if you are using a desktop or laptop computer. the role of the Joint Trauma System, the CoTCCC, and
Under the new Digital/Tablet subscription, we will be the TCCC Working Group in helping to make that hap-
able to determine the type of device you are using and pen. It also outlines a clear and comprehensive vision
direct you to the appropriate page. Those subscribers for a National Trauma System that will enable the civil-
who have either a Digital or Tablet subscription will ian and the military sectors to work in concert to help
automatically be converted to the new Digital/Tablet prevent ALL potentially preventable deaths in trauma
subscription. victims.

The second major change to the subscriptions is that we Link to download a free PDF copy of the IOM Report
will be instituting a recurring billing to our subscrip- on our homepage at www.JSOMonline.org.
tions. This practice is in line with all other major com-
mercial publications and, hopefully, will make things POCUS
easier for our readers to continue receiving the JSOM.
Instead of getting reminder messages starting at 45 days With renewed interest in prolonged field care (PFC),
out, you will now receive one or two messages remind- point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) has regained a
ing you that your renewal is due and that you have to lot of attention in Special Operations medicine. An in-
take no action in order to continue receiving the jour- credibly versatile diagnostic and monitoring tool, it can
nal. If you wish to cancel your subscription for whatever be successfully applied to guide critical care in the aus-
reason, you will be given a link to do so. tere settings, despite serious logistic limitations. It can
also help you solve a number of operational dilemmas.
In many ways, ultrasound is a force multiplier in Special
Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report
Ops medicine.
Advances in trauma care have accelerated over the past
decade, spurred by the significant burden of injury from JSOM and SOFsono.org have started an ongoing se-
the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Between 2005 and ries of case-based POCUS education tidbits. JSOM will
2013, the case-fatality rate for US Servicemembers in- provide you with a brief introduction to the case. A
jured in Afghanistan decreased by nearly 50%, despite more-detailed discussion with live clips and images will
an increase in the severity of injury among US troops follow at SOFsono.org. Join doc Poston (SFC William
during the same period of time. But as the war in Af- H. Poston, 18D) and doc Hampton (Katarzyna [Kasia]
ghanistan ends, knowledge and advances in trauma care Hampton, MD) as they help you up your sono-skills.
developed by the DoD over the past decade from experi- Please see the first case presentation on page 106.
ences in Afghanistan and Iraq may be lost. This would

x Journal of Special Operations Medicine Volume 15, Edition 2/Summer 2016