Professionally, the biggest challenge to working at the AFTH is our location and resultant long supply train. Almost every item needed to stock a modern hospital comes not from the local economy but from outside the country and must be either flown or trucked in. This logistic trail requires constant attention to efficiency and inventory and when supplies are out or equipment is down, sometimes we must resort to ingenuity. We try to do the best we can for every individual yet, akin to the concept of military triage, we must use our medical resources with the utilitarian philosophy of “the greatest good for the greatest number.”
Final Thoughts
Practicing medicine at AFTH has been, for me, the opportunity of a lifetime. I work with very talented people, learn an amazing amount, and—most importantly—help care for our men and women in uniform. Although we practice medicine much differently from the way we do at home, the adjustment to the combat hospital is facilitated by the close teamwork among physicians here. This is exemplified in the ICU, where twice daily ICU rounds are led by a surgical intensivist and are attended by general surgeons, surgical subspecialists, and the ICU team, including internists and medicine subspecialists. In how many medical facilities do surgeons and internists, caring for the same patients, perform bedside rounds together as a matter of routine?
I believe this sense of teamwork exists in the combat zone for several reasons, including necessity, in which efficient use of time and manpower is critical, and of fluidity, in which the constant mixing and turnover of hospital staff prevents departmental barriers from developing. Perhaps the most important reason teamwork flourishes at AFTH is the overarching sense of mission in an austere environment. We are at Balad Air Base primarily to care for wounded American and Iraqi military members, and that responsibility under these conditions requires a resourceful and collaborative approach to the practice of medicine. TH
The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not represent the opinions of the U.S. Government, the U.S. Department of Defense, or the U.S. Air Force.