FORT CAMPBELL, KY (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Vanderbilt University Medical Center is formalizing its partnership with the Army and Fort Campbell, becoming an official site of the U.S. Army Military-Civilian Trauma Team Training (AMCT3).
The AMCT3 program delivers medical training opportunities to military medical personnel by assigning them to civilian trauma centers. VUMC is one of only a few civilian medical centers in the nation to now participate in such a program, according to a Vanderbilt news release.
VUMC leadership and representatives from the U.S. Army Surgeon General’s Office formalized the agreement at a signing ceremony at Vanderbilt on March 24.
“Today and together, we are ushering in a heightened level of military-civilian collaboration that will make both of our organizations stronger and better prepared,” Dr. C. Wright Pinson, Deputy Chief Executive Officer for VUMC, said in the release. “Together, we will help ensure that Army medical personnel sustain proficiency in important trauma skills, critical care skills and overall readiness when called upon to provide care in a combat environment.”
Army personnel are well-equipped to provide routine health care for soldiers and their families but have relatively little exposure to trauma and critical care. The Military Health System only operates one Level 1 trauma center, and officials saw the need to partner with leading Level 1 civilian trauma centers.
The AMCT3 is designed to train the Army’s premier Forward Resuscitative Surgical Teams (FRSTs), which are comprised of surgeons, emergency medicine physicians, advanced practice nurses, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, operating room technicians, combat medics and other related surgical sub-specialties, the release said.
Personnel assigned to the 772nd FRST at Fort Campbell will have the opportunity to work and train at VUMC on an enduring basis. Some of these personnel will live in the local area and be assigned to VUMC for up to three years, while others will rotate through on a recurring periodic basis.
While primarily focusing on maintaining their individual medical skills while at VUMC, they will also have opportunities to work together as a trauma team at VUMC in caring for patients who have suffered from trauma or are critically ill. Additional training opportunities will be offered to enlisted medical personnel to train alongside their civilian counterparts on short-term rotations in a variety of clinical settings through the Strategic Medical Asset Readiness Training Program, the release said.
VUMC will also provide a platform for Army general surgeons working at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital to maintain skills in trauma resuscitation and damage control surgery and other critical skills. Additional opportunities to expand training of elite Special Operations units will also be explored.