Military Deployment Health Surveillance Policy and its Application to Special Operations Forces

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2004

Keywords

patient referral, surveillance, medical, military deployment, united states department of defense

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.7205/MILMED.169.1.1

Abstract

An evaluation research methodology was used to determine whether deployment health surveillance for Special Operations Forces conformed with Department of Defense policy directives for the specified target population. Data for this methodology were based on pre- and postdeployment health assessments as well as patient encounters recorded during deployments. The data represented 1,094 individual and unique Special Operations Forces members deployed to 12 different countries from October 2000 through December 2001. Results from the study suggested that military deployment health surveillance policy goals for predeployment medical referrals, patient data capture, and documentation during the deployment and postdeployment medical referrals were being poorly met when Department of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff mandates were applied to Special Operations Forces in an unconventional operations environment. Preliminary evaluation indicates that deployment health surveillance implementation could be improved with the introduction of policy awareness education, training, and technology.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Military Medicine, v. 169, issue 1, p. 1–6

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