Abstract
Introduction The geographical & temporal position of surgical assets in the evacuation chain during war fighting is controversial. Manning, equipment and command issues can conflict with clinical experience and evidence as to the ideal location and configuration for Field Surgical Teams.
Method Details of casualties presenting to 2 Air Attack Surgical Groups were collected prospectively during the ground war phase of Operation Telic. Mechanism and time of injury, wound type and classification, patient demographics, times and details of treatments carried out, evacuation details and outcomes were noted for both coalition and Iraqi patients.
Results The mean time to life and limb saving surgery for coalition casualties was 4 hours, significantly shorter than during previous conflicts in the region. Air case-vac requests generated within the area of responsibility failed in all cases to move patients from point of wounding to fixed hospital assets within agreed clinical timelines.
Discussion We argue that in order to keep life and limb saving surgical resuscitation within agreed clinical guidelines Field Surgery Teams must be capable of deploying to a forward environment within the Medical Regiment organization. Manning and equipment templates used by this unit provide a template for this capability.
The abstracts were prepared by Secretary Mr K Trimble.
