A Conference led by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, will focus on how lessons learned from military deployments in places such as Afghanistan can be utilised for civilian practice.
According to the publicity for the event, which takes place in Edinburgh on 21st October 2014, the British Armed Forces during operations in Afghanistan have been able to develop and deliver pre-hospital care to an exceptional standard resulting in survival rates for critical trauma better than any ever seen in previous conflicts.
The MERT (Medical Emergency Response Team) has become accepted shorthand for consultant-led pre-hospital care and the implementation of simple universal clinical protocols has meant that life-saving interventions can be performed almost immediately after injury. Many of the clinical developments from Afghanistan have now been introduced into civilian practice.
This study day, presented by clinicians with deployed experience in Afghanistan and elsewhere, will consider the lessons from deployed PHEM and how they might inform civilian practice, whilst ensuring that an awareness of the differences between the two operating environments and patient populations does not facilitate simplistic comparisons.