Management of Heat and Cold Stress - Guidance to NATO Medical Personnel
Abstract
NATO ground forces have operated in the extreme heat of Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, Lebanon and numbing cold of Afghanistan and Bosnia. NATO forces often lack adequate doctrine/ training / equipment to avoid thermal illness / injury and to minimize debilitating effects on fighting capabilities. Thermal (heat & cold) illness/injuries are an important cause of non-battle illness / injury in deployed troops which can consume forward medical resources and gravely degrades operational effectiveness. The Battle of Najaf, Iraq (August 2004) resulted in 10% of engaged forces being incapacitated from heat stress and evacuated and NATO forces report heat illnesses often deplete forward medical support. The U.S. Army has ~8-fold increase in heat stroke hospitalizations during the past 22-years. United Kingdom forces have suffered a high incidence of non-freezing cold injuries (hands and feet) in training and operations; while US Special Forces are believed to suffer many unreported non-freezing cold injuries to hands. In addition, global warming has melted Polar ice and resulted in increased energy exploration and trade routes through these extreme cold areas, which have had associated security concerns. The NATO RTO HFM-RTG 187 panel "Thermal Strain Management for Health and Performance Sustainment" determined that: 1) current thermal management capabilities are not fully utilized by NATO forces to educate military leaders on optimizing troop health and performance sustainment; 2) significant scientific / capability gaps exist regarding thermal illness / injury susceptibility, early diagnosis and treatment; 3) significant scientific / capability gaps exist regarding thermal management for operational effectiveness. This technical report presents the "best practices" for NATO leaders and medical personnel and low-tech information brochures (Appendices) on thermal (heat and cold) management.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA571324
Entities
People
- Beau J. Freund
- John W Castellani
- Marissa G. Spitz
- Michael N. Sawka
Organizations
- United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine