Expeditionary Resuscitation Surgical Team: The US Army's Initiative to Provide Damage Control Resuscitation and Surgery to Forces in Austere Settings.

Improvements in surgical care on the battlefield have contributed to reduced morbidity and mortality in wounded Servicemembers. 1 Point-of-injury care and early surgical intervention, along with improved personal protective equipment, have produced the lowest casualty statistics in modern warfare, resulting in improved force strength, morale, and social acceptance of conflict. It is undeniable that point-of-care injury, followed by early resuscitation and damage control surgery, saves lives on the battlefield. The US Army's Expeditionary Resuscitation Surgical Team (ERST) is a highly mobile, interprofessional medical team that can perform damage control resuscitation and surgery in austere locations. Its configuration and capabilities vary; however, in general, a typical surgical element can perform one major surgery and one minor surgery without resupply. The critical care element can provide prolonged holding in garrison, but this diminishes in the austere setting with complex and acutely injured patients.

Real-World Experience With Three Point-of-Care Blood Analyzers in Deployed Environments.

Austere environments such as Africa pose clinical challenges, which are multiplied for Special Operations Forces (SOF) providers who must face these challenges with limited resources against the tyranny of distance. These limited resources apply not only to treatment tools but to diagnostic tools as well. Laboratory diagnostics may provide critical information in diagnosis, initial triage, and/or evacuation decisions, all of which may enhance a patient's survival. However, unlike in climate-controlled, fixed-facility hospitals, the deployed SOF provider must have access to a simple, reliable device for point-of-care testing (POCT) to obtain clinically meaningful data in a practical manner given the surroundings.