Tuesday, September 18, 2012

The Mission

My current place of employment


I’m assigned to a Forward Operating Base (FOB) Sharana in Eastern Afghanistan.  I’m serving in a Forward Surgical Team (FST). A FST is a small, mobile surgical unit. The FST typically includes 20 staff members: 4 surgeons, 3 RNs, 2 anesthetists (CRNAs), 1 administrative officer, 1 detachment sergeant, 3 licensed practical nurses (LPN)'s, 3 surgical techs and 3 medics. Our mission is to provide resuscitation, hemorrhage control, and surgical stabilization to combat casualties. The most typical kind of injuries we receive are from IEDs or gunshot wounds.

Each of us have clearly defined roles and responsibilities. During any given trauma these are my responsibilities as one of the two anesthetists:

* Secure the airway and perform tracheal intubation.
* Obtain central venous access
* Resuscitate the patient with IV fluids, blood, and vasopressors
* Provide sedation and pain control as needed.
* Provide anesthesia for patients selected for emergent surgery.
* Manage patients post-resuscitation and/or post-surgery until they are evacuated by air for more definitive treatment.


My Office. OR Bed 1


Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) and triage

Entrance into trauma center from helicopter landing pads.

Major Randall Moore, CRNA
1980th Forward Surgical Team
FOB Sharana, Afghanistan

No comments:

Post a Comment