The management of unexplained collapse in service age personnel.

Unexplained collapse is a common presentation to medical practitioners, with a wide range of differential diagnoses making assessment problematic. Without a methodical approach to the patient presenting with unexplained collapse, potentially life-threatening conditions may not be recognised, whilst benign presentations can be over-investigated. This article will review the assessment, differential diagnosis and management of unexplained collapse, whilst considering the impact in the military environment.

Penetrating abdominal injury: UK military experience from the Afghanistan conflict.

Aims: To identify the prevalence, injury patterns and mortality of penetrating abdominal injury in patients treated at the UK Role 3 Medical Treatment Facility (MTF) in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan.

Methods: All patients with a penetrating abdominal injury were identified from the UK Joint Theatre Trauma Registry (JTTR). Demographics, predicted survival and observed mortality were compared.

Optimising the management of severe Traumatic Brain Injury in the military maritime environment.

Severe Traumatic Brain Injury (sTBI) is a devastating cause of morbidity and mortality, especially among those aged less than 45 years. Advances in clinical practice continue to focus on preventing primary injury through developing ballistic head and eye protection, and through minimising secondary brain injury (secondary prevention). Managing sTBI is challenging in well-developed, well-resourced healthcare systems.

The imagework method in health and social science research.

Existing alongside the traditional forms of qualitative social science research, there is a set of potential research methods that derive from experiential groupwork and the humanistic human potential movement and are only slightly used by researchers. Social science research has barely begun to use these powerful strategies that were developed originally for personal and group change but that are potentially applicable to the research domain. This article will locate these methods within the qualitative research domain and propose a novel view of their value.