Fields that army medicine is recognized in?

[virtu]

Granted there is considerable selection bias by posting this topic in military med forum but i was wondering what people thought were the fields/areas that army medicine is recognized in?

For example, does Army trauma surgery in reality have the level of training, proficiency, etc. that people would expect?

Also, has anyone here done research here as part of Army med? I've heard from an active duty orthopedic surgeon that even national level research isn't met with the same amount of support/sympathy as in the civilian world. i wanted to see what other people's experiences have been like.

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[a1qwerty55]

Granted there is considerable selection bias by posting this topic in military med forum but i was wondering what people thought were the fields/areas that army medicine is recognized in?

For example, does Army trauma surgery in reality have the level of training, proficiency, etc. that people would expect?

Also, has anyone here done research here as part of Army med? I've heard from an active duty orthopedic surgeon that even national level research isn't met with the same amount of support/sympathy as in the civilian world. i wanted to see what other people's experiences have been like.

Historically the Army has been the source of some pretty ground breaking research, typically ID, trauma care, burns, asthma, immunology (vaccine development). Unfortunately, research doesn't generate the almighty RVU's and AFIP (Armed Forces Institute for Pathology) once the premier reference path lab in the world was gutted and now many of us have to shop our tissue to other institutions to feel confident with the read.

Research is still possible, but poorly supported, however despite that I am often surprised with the research a motivated resident on a research year can crank out. Maybe things will improve but everything now is about the RVU and moving the meat so I'm not too optimistic.

 

[Zulu451]

The answers to your questions are not simple and they are pretty field specific.

I did a year of research during my residency at USAISR (Army Institute of Surgical Research) and I think there are few places which offer such research opportunities. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder. I was very productive, never had to worry about funding and the research that I did actually translated to taking care of patients within months. It prep'd me well to go on into a very competitive fellowship.

Major advances in medicine parallel war. It always has been this way. You just have to find out how to make the advances apply to what you want to do. There are some really great opportunities out there, you just have to find them.

Don't expect to be able to churn out a bunch of papers and do high quality research at a small MEDAC, it won't happen.