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Military Medical Professional's Scope With Civilian Research Paper

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Military Medical Professional’s Scope with Civilians
Devon Cafazzo
AMEDD Senior Leaders Course

Military Medical Professional’s Scope with Civilians A recent tragedy and horrific event happened in Boston on April 15, 2013. At 2:49 pm 3 people were killed and 264 people were injured during the bombing of the Boston Marathon. Since this event certain Military Units have had an increased presence as large public venues, including Sailfest, the Boston, Hartford, and New York City Marathons, as well as the US Open. I am the Medic on the team and as such my responsibilities include treatment of military personnel when injured or sick. Unfortunately, the law prevents Military Medical personnel from treating civilians in the US. …show more content…

Also, the military differs in the scope of practice of their medics. Scope of practicing being those people they are allowed to treat as well as what interventions they are allowed to perform. For instance, a civilian paramedic would not be allowed to transfer blood straight from one person to another because it is beyond their scope of practice. In the civilian world one’s scope of practice is clearly legally defined based on your job and training, and you cannot extend beyond it. In the military, when treating soldiers, airmen or marines medics are only restricted to what the doctor or physician assistant has trained them to do. All medics receive the same baseline training. They receive training in combat medicine as well as primary care medicine. Procedures they learn include, but are not limited to tourniquets, chest tubes, giving pain medication, and administering intravenous fluids. However, this baseline training is not what military medics are limited to administering. If the primary provider that overseas them trains them on a more advance procedures, and is comfortable with them performing it, that …show more content…

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