Du maintien des compétences: Un problème pour tous

Medical Training Falls Short at Army Combat Training Centers 
Carius BM et Al.  Military Medicine, Volume 190, Issue 1-2, January/February 2025, Pages 36–37

While combat arms project military strength and logistical support elements underwrite this power, medical support is vital for preservation of military life and readiness. We recently augmented different brigade rotations at an Army combat training center (CTC) as medical providers and find difficulty in confronting the depth and breadth of medical training inadequacies in support of this foundational training event. While we hope that our experiences are an aberrancy of isolated unit misfocus, the lack of medical training standards at Army CTCs demonstrates that rotational unit shortcomings are as much a byproduct of a systemic lack of medical training as individual organizations neglect. Despite coming from different backgrounds and experiences in medicine, the military, and CTC experience, we nevertheless came away with equally profound dismay at medical training shortfalls for both notional and real-world casualties.

As with most military forces, Army medics (medical occupational specialty 68W) are notably understrength and relatively inexperienced given exiting combat veterans and decreased deployments. Remaining medics disproportionately shoulder numerous administrative burdens, such as vehicle maintenance. This leaves little to no time to retain, refine, and practice basic skills initially taught in advanced individual training, let alone advance medical practices. Of dozens of medics we interacted with, all reported no substantial clinical opportunities to learn from direct supervision by a physician or physician assistant. Medics lacked essential pharmacotherapy understanding, including common medications like diphenhydramine and loperamide or emergent interventions such as epinephrine for anaphylaxis or pralidoxime for nerve agent exposure. The overwhelming majority acknowledged little clinical exposure beyond basic sick call. A small fraction of the few with combat experience expressed confidence with trauma management.