Military medical personnel's perceptions of treating battle injuries

• Purpose: To evaluate military personnel’s self-rated perceptions of their knowledge, experience and training after high-fidelity battle injury simulation.Design: 26 military medical personnel participated in this quantitative study. Data was collected using a questionnaire after a six-day exercise where participants self-rated 10 statements regarding having sufficient medical, practical and ethical knowledge, experience and training. Descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted to obtain the results.Results: Nurses rated themselves statistically significantly higher than medics in having sufficient medical knowledge and experience, practical knowledge, experience and training, as well as ethical knowledge and experience. The nurses also rated themselves statistically significantly higher than physicians in having practical knowledge, experience and training. Physicians’ self-rated perception was low regarding sufficient knowledge, experience and training in practical skills. Physicians, nurses and medics all reported low ratings for sufficient training in ethical issues.Discussion: Military medical personnel are required to have the knowledge and skills to work autonomously in challenging and threatening environments. For personnel that seldom see battlefield-like injuries, a clinical placement in a country with a high frequency of battlefield-like injuries would be advisable. A comparison between subjective and objective assessments may identify deficiencies in competence, which can negatively impact quality of care.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Omvårdnad (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Nursing (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Emergency care

ethics

questionnaire

physician

nurse

medic

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)