The Effectiveness of Soldier Medical Readiness Councils in Reducing and Shaping the Population of Soldiers Not Medically Deployable
Autor: | Anthony D. Arnett, Ronald J. Place, Gail L. Maxwell, Jessica M. Cassidy, Richard G. Malish |
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Rok vydání: | 2013 |
Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Time Factors Health Status media_common.quotation_subject education Population Efficiency Organizational Occupational safety and health Military medicine Disability Evaluation Return to Work Environmental health Humans Medicine Duty Occupational Health media_common education.field_of_study business.industry Public health Infantry Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health General Medicine United States Navy Military Personnel business Demography |
Zdroj: | Military Medicine. 178:715-721 |
ISSN: | 1930-613X 0026-4075 |
DOI: | 10.7205/milmed-d-13-00003 |
Popis: | The population of Soldiers not medically fit for deployment has created readiness problems for the U.S. Army in recent years. To address this issue, the 3rd Infantry Division created councils of experts to address the size of its medically nondeployable population. Our results demonstrate success in effectively reducing the subpopulation of Soldiers who have been medically nondeployable for long periods of time by enforcing their return to duty or medical retirement. This study also demonstrates that council-based management affects the composition of the medically-not-ready population. Traditional approaches allow a minority subpopulation of Soldiers with poor prognoses to dwell within the nondeployable population for long periods of time (6-18+ months), whereas the healthier majority recovers within the first 6 months. This creates a dynamic in which remaining in the population for longer time periods increases the probability of being medically retired. Our study demonstrates that councils consistently and actively shape the character of the group such that those remaining in the medically-not-ready population for longer periods of time do not have an increased risk of medical retirement. Soldier Medical Readiness Councils have already been adopted by the Army. This article provides evidence to support their efficacy. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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