Page 8 - JSOM Winter 2022

FEATURE ARTICLES Unit Collective Medical Training in the 75th Ranger Regi-
Comparison of Warming Capabilities Between Buddy Lite, ment: Four programs have been developed to train individ-
enFlow, and Thermal Angel for US Army Medical Personnel ual and collective tasks that
in Austere Conditions: A Literature Review: The purpose of sustain the Ranger casualty
this literature review is to examine the three most common response system: (1) Ranger
battery-operated IV fluid warmers as determined by type and First Responder, (2) Advanced
quantity listed on the Mission Table of Organization and Ranger First Responder, (3)
Equipment (MTOE) of organic mobile medical units. Ranger Medic Assessment and
Validation, and (4) Casualty
Response Training for Ranger Providing treatment during
Leaders. Ranger medical training.

Comparing a Novel Hand-Held Device for Chest Tube Inser-
tion to the Traditional Open Tube Thoracostomy for Simple
Pneumothorax in a Porcine Model: The Reactor is a hand-
enFlow with battery accessory. Buddy Lite.
held device for tube thoracostomy that has been validated for
Improvised Management of Polycythemia Vera Using Whole tension pneumothorax compared to needle decompression.
Blood Transfusion Kits: We describe an active-duty Soldier Here we investigate whether the Reactor has potential for sim-
with PV symptoms consisting of substernal chest pressure, ple pneumothorax compared to open thoracostomy.
bilateral lower extremity paresthesias, and persistent pruritic
neck rash. The local emergency medicine team employed blood
collection bags from whole blood (WB) transfusion kits, in-
cluding proven volume estimation methods, to routinely draw
one unit of blood and effectively manage this condition. This
is the first reported case in military literature of PV managed
with improvised field resources and techniques.

A unit of whole blood is drawn Reactor technique. Reactor technique.
from the patient utilizing the blood
collection bag from a whole blood Where Do We Stand on “Buddy Transfusion” During Military
transfusion kit. Fill estimation was Operations? Warm fresh whole-blood transfusion between
performed via a 6.5-inch piece of
paracord wrapped across the waist of comrades on the battlefield, also known as “buddy transfu-
the collection bag. sion,” has been thrust back into the limelight for several years
now. It is a lifesaving procedure, effective and hardy. This
work aims to answer the main questions that military caregiv-
Incidence of Airway Interventions in the Setting of Serious ers might have about it: interest of this procedure, donor and
Facial Traumas: We used a series of emergency department recipient safety, and hemostatic capacity of the blood collected
procedure codes to identify patients within the Department this way.
of Defense Trauma Registry (DoDTR) from January 2007 to
August 2016; this is a sub-group analysis of casualties with Cric in the Dark: Surgical
documented serious facial trauma based on an abbreviated Cricothyrotomy in Low Light
injury scale of 3 or greater for the facial body region. Our Tactical Environments: This
results showed that serious injury to the face rarely occurred study compared the use of
among trauma casualties within the DoDTR. In this subgroup red-green (RG) light and red
analysis of casualties with serious facial trauma, the incidence (R) light in the performance
of airway interventions to include cricothyrotomy was exceed- of SC in a low-light environ-
ingly low. However, within this small subset the mortality rate Study materials. Example of R and RG ment. RG light increased
is high and thus better methods for airway management need light from First Light Tomahawk on confidence and decreased
to be developed. lowest intensity setting. perceived difficulty when
performing SC, though no differences in placement time or
Does Mental and Visual Skills success were observed.
Training Improve High-Value Tar-
get Identification and Marksman- An Exploratory Comparison of Water-Tamped and -Un-
ship Among Elite Soldiers? The tamped Explosive Breaches: Practical Applications for the
purpose of this preliminary investi- Tactical Community via a Pilot Study: Tamping explosive
gation was to determine the impact charges used by breachers is an increasingly common tech-
of a mental and visual skills train- nique. The long-term consequences of blast exposure are an
PID task layout. ing (MVST) program on a high- open. Study findings indicate that water tamping in general is
value target identification and marksmanship (HVTM) task a benefit on moderate and heavy charges but offers less benefit
among Special Operations Forces (SOF) Soldiers. at a low charge with regard to mitigating blast overpressure

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