The "Golden Hour" Standard: Transforming Combat Health Support

Abstract

Continuous improvement in immediate, life-saving treatment on the battlefield is an institutional obsession within military medicine. Combat medics, corpsmen, nurses, and surgeons return from contingency missions determined to save lives in future wars that were just beyond their reach in the last. At the heart of that conviction is the standard to which the entire brotherhood of military medicine must hold itself personally accountable: the golden hour, broadly the first 60 minutes following trauma or the onset of acute illness. The chances of survival are greatest if surgery or advanced trauma life support can be provided within that hour. While this standard may have formed the foundation of the Nation's civilian emergency medical service, it is forever rooted in the battlefield experiences of the military health system (MHS) in the previous century.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2006
Accession Number
ADA521849

Entities

People

  • Guy S. Strawder

Organizations

  • National Defense University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combat Casualty Care
  • Combat Forces
  • Combat Support Hospitals
  • Health Services
  • Hospitals
  • Information Systems
  • Lessons Learned
  • Medical Evacuation
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Hospitals
  • Military Medicine
  • Patient Care
  • Standards
  • Therapy
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Trauma or Military Medicine