The surgical aspects of Role 2 Afloat

Introduction Onboard surface ships like destroyers and frigates, there is ROLE 1, whereas on a three-landing helicopter deck (LHD) and aircraft carrier, there is ROLE 2, with a surgical team. At sea, evacuation takes more time than on any other theater of operation. It also costs more money, so we wanted to analyze how many patients have been maintained onboard, thanks to ROLE 2. Moreover, we wanted to analyze the surgical activities on the LHD MISTRAL ROLE 2. Methods We performed a retrospective observational study. We retrospectively analyzed all surgery cases performed on the MISTRAL between January 1, 2011, and June 30, 2022. During this period, there were only 21 months with a surgical team ROLE 2 onboard. We included all consecutive patients who underwent minor or major surgery onboard. Results A total of 57 procedures were performed during the period, involving 54 patients (52 males and 2 females) with an average age of 24.4 ± 1.9 years. The most frequent pathology was abscess (pilonidal sinus abscess, axillary abscess, or perineal abscess) (n = 32; 59.2%). Only two Medical Evacuations were conducted because of surgery; the other patients who underwent surgery were maintained onboard. Conclusions We have shown that using ROLE 2 aboard the LHD MISTRAL decreases the use of Medical Evacuation. It also helps to perform surgery under better conditions for our sailors. Doing everything to keep sailors onboard seems to be an important point.

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Human factors in contingency operations

Mercer

Khan

Scott

et al. 2016

J R Army Med Corps

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The UK Defence Medical Services are currently supporting contingency operations following a period of intensive activity in relatively mature trauma systems in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the key lessons identified, human factors or non-technical skills played an important role in the improvement of patient care. This article describes the importance of human factors on Role 2 Afloat, one of the Royal Navy's maritime contingency capabilities, and illustrates how they are vital to ensuring that correct decisions are made for patient care in a timely manner. Teamwork and communication are particularly important to ensure that limited resources such as blood products and other consumables are best used and that patients are evacuated promptly, allowing the facility to accept further casualties and therefore maintain operational capability. These ideas may be transferred to any small specialist team given a particular role to perform.

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The surgical aspects of Role 2 Afloat

Cited by 7 publications

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Overview of Current Maritime Surgical Platforms and Operational Environments Part 2: United Kingdom and The Royal Navy

Overview of Current Maritime Surgical Platforms and Operational Environments Part 2: United Kingdom and The Royal Navy

Surgical Experiences From a French Forward Surgical Team on Board of the Landing Helicopter Deck MISTRAL

Human factors in contingency operations

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