Trauma readiness training for military deployment: a comparison between a U.S. trauma center and an Air Force Theater Hospital in Balad, Iraq.

The U.S. Air Force created the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills at the Shock Trauma Center (STC) where staffs rotate before deployment. We sought to investigate the value of this training. A retrospective review of prospectively collected data of patient volume, injury severity, mechanism of injury, operative cases, and massive transfusion data from September 2006 to August 2007 was obtained from the STC in Baltimore and the Air Force Theater Hospital (AFTH) in Balad. Severity of injury and massive transfusions were higher at the AFTH. Soft tissue wound care represented approximately 25% of AFTH cases; a soft tissue service performed 465 operative debridements for severe soft tissue infections at STC. The STC's high-volume of major soft tissue debridement cases may offer the closest approximation of high energy wound care. Training at selected U.S. trauma centers may prepare military staff to care for war injuries, particularly those who do not practice in high-volume Level 1 trauma centers.