Do we need military hospitals when there is a shortage of doctors and nurses in the civilian sector?
War is traumatic. Do many military hospitals see trauma patients? Where do the majority of military ER doctors do their trauma training? Are the military nurses, medics/corpsmen & medical services personnel used to caring for the needs of traumatic casualties of war? Should military doctors, nurses, medics/corpsmen & medical personnel work in civilian hospitals and drill (like a reservist - one weekend / month & 2 weeks / year) in whatever military environment setting they are assigned. Army medical would train in field hospitals, Navy medical would train on the hospital ships and Marine / Army field hospitals & Air Force / Army / Navy Air Wing personnel would train for medevac flight. A key to this is that the military ER providers work in the civilian emergency rooms and see more trauma than they will see in the current military ERs, drills in the military field ER / hospital ship & keeps it supplied with the latest trauma equipment / supplies. Military nurses / medics / corpsmen who are “assigned” ER, ICU, OR, Psych, Flight, etc. Like the doctors work in those civilian hospital areas and drill in the same area. Note: During Desert Shield / Storm there were “reserve” military nurses who had been designated as OR , ER or ICU nurses. But, many hadn’t worked in their specialty areas in years due to burn out. OR instruments / procedures change like ER protocols & ICU ventilators.
I would like to hear your thoughts . . .
Something along this line has been my answer for free, or greatly reduced cost, health care for citizens:
Set up at least one military hospital in each state staffed completely by military personnel that provides care to any US citizen. This could be on existing bases, or an entirely new one built near major population centers. This would serve to help train and educate medical military personnel while serving the community.
Besides providing care and giving experience, it would provide (albeit subsidized) competition to for-profit hospitals forcing them to lower their prices if they wish to maintain their current volume of patients.
I have no doubt this could be done without increasing military spending, perhaps even less spending, by closing/mothballing some of our non-mainland military bases.
There are a few challenges with this idea I see happening. But could have a solution…
First, if military personnel are called back to active duty, civilian hospitals could face staff shortages. Working in busy civilian hospitals combined with military drills could lead to burnout for the service members.
Lastly, transitioning between the different work environment, each with its own set of protocols and cultures. This could be tricky and might make it harder to switch gears smoothly between civilian and military settings.
The one “military” hospital in Colorado can be the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center. The project took 14 years. Under several presidents and VA secretaries, costs ballooned from $328 million to $1.73 billion. Way over priced and under utilized . . .
And I don’t believe they see any trauma.
I see non-mainland military hospitals as stabilization centers in route to stateside civilian facilities. Landstuhl Regional Medical Center receives a great deal of “fresh” casualties from the Middle East. I was surprised to hear from some of my SF patients that many of their severely injured buddies were cared for in German civilian hospitals.
The high cost of medical care is unfortunately due to malpractice lawsuits . . .
I believe one doesn’t go in to the medical / nursing field to hurt someone.
I’m going to date myself: Back in the day - One Navy nurse and two corpsmen could take care of 40 sailors / Marine patients. On an “open bay ward” where you could see all of your patients. Most of the patients helped each other. We usually charted on each patient at the end of every shift. Yes, one had to be in a lot of pain to ask for a pain pill / shot in front of 39 other patients. And we as providers developed a keen eye for those who were in pain and were sucking it up.
Then came six, four or two patients per room. That wasn’t too bad because still the patients had someone to communicate with / distract themselves from their injury / illness. The call lights were minimal.
Then individual patients in private rooms (to decrease cross infections I understand). But, many non-infectious patients would lie alone and dwell on their injury / illness and the call light was often used. (books, TV, video games are good distractions). Charting quadrupled.
Today, I feel many doctors and nurses spend more time charting than providing patient care.
Consider this . . .
In Qatar, their citizens are given free healthcare. I have worked in one of their hospitals and it was state of the art. Better than most American university medical centers. And, staffed mostly with American doctors and nurses being paid with big oil bucks and paid vacations.
To balance it out . . .
And this may be your answer. Patients couldn’t sue.
Patients harmed / family were compensated is some fair / equal manner.
The perpetrator was brought up before a board of their peers.
No lawyers involved.
I agree it could be tricky . . .
Military medical personnel would have to be integrated into the civilian work schedule to augment their needs “beyond” what is routine. Having worked as a corpsman for 4 1/2 years (2 years on the USS Midway during the mid 70’s), 16 years as a Navy nurse (one year on the USS New Orleans) and 25 years as a civilian nurse. Aside from the Vietnam era, far more civilian doctors & nurses burn out than military doctors & nurses. Military medical would be given days off to compensate for their drills. The “quality” of their drills in the military medical setting would determine how smooth the transition would be. Today, most military ER / ICU docs and nurses would have to come up to speed real fast to work in a civilian ER or ICU level 1 or 2 trauma center.