Page 82 - JSOM Summer 2023

so you want to know and be able to understand what they do units and provide medicine at the tactical and operational
to teach them” (P32). level. Incorporating them into a training environment meant
to mimic an active combat operation is necessary to add au-
Learning from medics also inspired students to raise their thenticity to an atmosphere that few physicians have seen.
training standards for the future. For example, the students While quantitative research on medic involvement in learning
described how preparing unit medical personnel for deploy- has been lacking, the results of our study suggest that incor-
ment is an important collateral role. porating enlisted medical personnel into the simulation is an
effective method for teaching tactical field care, as our partic-
“A Military Medical Officer is someone that makes sure that ipants thrived under their direction. By integrating their spe-
their corpsmen and medics are very well-trained because they cific brand of leadership, spot corrections, and field expedient
are most likely going to be the people doing what we did [at knowledge, they were able to impart information unique to
Operation Gunpowder] on a much grander scale and a much their skill set.
more frequent basis. So if you aren’t training your people like
this, then they’re not going to do a very good job” (P34). Operation Gunpowder served as some of the medical students’
first extended exposure to enlisted medical professionals. In
The medical students likewise developed an understanding of the contrast to the controlled atmosphere of most hospital set-
role that Military Physicians must play in the education of their tings, medics are often thrust into chaotic environments in
enlisted counterparts. “Gunpowder showed me how important which they may be the only person with the knowledge to
medics are. I think that there’s a huge job of helping train them make critical decisions. In this setting, the autocratic lead-
as a medical officer. I had never really thought about that, so that ership style is beneficial, in that it is expedient, direct, and
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is now a huge factor for me,” one student noted (P4). absolute. This directive type of leadership leads to higher
performance in stressful, fluctuating, and complex conditions
Learning from the medics also impacted the students’ leader- and contrasts sharply with the collaborative methods of teach-
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ship perspective, as they were taught how to utilize enlisted ing often found on the wards. Introducing students to alter-
personnel in a military operation in order to maximize the ef- native leadership styles will provide them with an additional
fectiveness of the healthcare team. tool should they find themselves in this environment.
“Part of being a Military Officer is understanding the people Tactical non-commissioned officers at West Point, recruit di-
who are under you, and what they expect of you, and how vision commanders and Marine drill instructors at Officer
you can utilize that team, and so having the resource of hav- Training Command, and non-commissioned officers in schools
ing these. . . . All these medics who’ve had years and years of such as Army Airborne and Air Assault all counsel, train, and
experience, being able to talk to them and give us pointers on develop ethics and discipline in officers. What makes training
things to do, and understanding your team, that’s going to be unique during Operation Gunpowder is the shared under-
worthwhile for the Navy in the long run as far as making an standing that the same physicians learning from Special Opera-
efficient medical team,” another student noted (P5). tions Medics and Corpsmen will eventually be preparing them
in pre-deployment training. They will also be receiving patients
Another student commented on her newfound understanding from them at a Role 1 facility or working alongside them in an
of her leadership role as a Military Medical Officer and the operational environment.
high expectations she set for herself in this role after being
taught by the medics at Operation Gunpowder. The results of our study suggest that the use of medics in a
training setting is a valuable model for both military and civil-
“One of the things that I’ll take home with me is what one of ian education and training. We believe that reciprocal and col-
the medics told us. . . . ‘In these situations we have to be officers laborative learning in an interprofessional environment such
first, and we have to remember that we’re officers that know as Operation Gunpowder can increase the effective utilization
things about medicine, because we’re going to be around peo- of medics, aid in understanding of unique skill sets, and ulti-
ple like our medics and all these other people that are going mately result in a Medical Officer more equipped to teach and
to know what to do, and they just need a leader.’ And you can empower enlisted medical personnel in the future. The third-
use your medical expertise to maybe polish some things off in year medical students’ perception of the value of being trained
the end, but you have to be a leader and take charge and make by medics at Operation Gunpowder will drive our future re-
sure that things are being done in the right order and in the search. Specifically, the research will be regarding the impact
right way, just because there’s a lot of moving parts and a lot of this innovative training approach and the ways in which the
of things that you need to set up beforehand” (P23). pedagogy used throughout this field practicum impacts stu-
dent learning and professional development. Past research has
focused on the value of simulation-focused pedagogy, but none
Discussion
has yet explored the integration of medics into a simulation
The students in our study described the impact of being taught focused on training military medical students. 12,13
by Special Operations Medics on their personal and profes-
sional development. The students learned not only about the In the civilian realm, experiences of paramedics outside the
capabilities of their enlisted counterparts, but also about their hospital provide insight to the community. Aside from a
own roles as educators and leaders of healthcare teams in their unique skill set, civilian paramedics have knowledge of a host
future work as military medical officers. of healthcare disparities that may never arrive at a clinic or
hospital. For example, a large number of opiate overdoses
While physicians are rarely required to go to the point of in- were never transferred to the hospital and never seen by a phy-
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jury, medics and corpsmen are often assigned to operational sician. With most physicians staying in the state in which
80 | JSOM Volume 23, Edition 2 / Summer 2023