Military Trauma

Abstract

You are a military doctor working as part of a civilian relief effort to a country in the midst of civil war. As you are travelling in a military escorted convoy, gunshot is heard and you attend to one of the soldiers who is wounded. Prompts examine priorities in these type of situations, expected wound patterns on battlefields and the mechanisms of evacuation both to points of safety and to points of definitive care. The soldier has an arterial injury and prompts go on to discuss BATLS and acute management of haemorrhage. The casualty is evacuated via helicopter with discussion of its role. You escort the team to the military ER with prompts on initial management, shock and fluids used in resuscitation. The patient deteriorates and the lethal triad of trauma is explored alongside the use of different blood products and the active management of blood pressure. The patient undergoes further ‘damage control’ resuscitation and surgery with further prompts examining what this modern technique involves. The case concludes with a study surrounding Afghanistan and how civilian trauma services have adapted in the UK.