Of course, all of this readiness training comes with a price in terms of patient care. In order to effect an appropriate program, medical officers will be away from their clinics for significant periods of time. Summer personnel shortages will increase and entire hospitals may have to reduce operations for short periods to facilitate field training exercises for combat support hospitals and mobile army surgical hospitals. The price in civilian peacetime medical care will be well-spent if lives are saved in operational situations. Our experience is that our beneficiaries were very understanding of these inconveniences if presented in terms of training to support their spouses to go to war.
Training is, after all, part of the military.
In the future, regardless of specialty or assignment, we will continue to be expected to deploy with units we have never worked with before and immediately provide our services. By developing an operationally oriented OPD system, modeled after that of the other Army branches, we will significantly improve our ability to perform in these future environments. Entering a New Age in Ambulatory Patient Care. Med Bul U.S. Army . Rucker TW, Richards J. The Challenge of Leadership Within Army Medicine.