JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Medical professionals representing more than 10 countries within the U.S. Central Command area of operation, Europe and the United States were in San Antonio for a CENTCOM theater medical conference March 6-8.
For the three days during the conference, conference participants toured the Medical Education and Training Campus at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston to learn about some of the 48 Army, Navy and Air Force enlisted medical training programs taught there.
The visitors were shown the surgical technician program, which is a joint course with Army, Navy and Air Force students who learn how to function in an operating room environment.
The Basic Medical Technician Corpsman Program, a consolidated Air Force and Navy entry-level course, trains Air Force medical technicians and Navy hospital corpsmen. It is the second largest program at METC and boasts one of the largest simulation centers in the country.
The CENTCOM visitors were shown the laboratories where students learn to give IVs and take blood. They also visited the Nurse Synthesis Lab where high-tech human-patient, high-fidelity mannequins are used to train students to evaluate and assess “patients” and apply the skills they have learned to provide appropriate care.
The final stop was the Department of Combat Medic Training. Also an entry-level course, DCMT is the largest program at METC and trains Army students to become combat medics.
The CENTCOM visitors were able to observe the Combat Trauma Patient Simulator where students apply their newly learned medical skills in a simulated combat environment. The trainer is divided into two sections: on one side is a Middle Eastern marketplace in the aftermath of an explosion that was set off by a suicide bomber scattering military and civilian casualties.
On the other side, an armored vehicle carrying a patrol unit is hit by an improvised explosive device, or IED, during an ambush in an Afghanistan valley.
The CENTCOM Theater Medical Conference visit to METC contributed to a successful training event, and aided in the continued development of capabilities that will serve to improve regional interoperability and cooperation.