FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital and the University of Missouri School of Medicine, partnered to bring life-like simulators to help provider's hone their trauma stabilization skills Jan. 23 and 24.

"We want to have as many providers, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, medics, and technicians trained to the best of their abilities," said Army Maj. Gustavo Moreno, clinical nurse officer in charge, GLWACH emergency department. "The University of Missouri has an extraordinary simulation department."

A computerized mannequin provided students with realistic injuries.

The University's Shelden Clinical Simulation Center Outreach Education Coordinator, Bobby Horn, and GLWACH's manager of resuscitative medicine classes, Brad Groves, introduced scenarios to students through the mannequin remotely.

The simulated trauma training included treating airways, bone, and other traumatic injuries such as gunshot wounds.

"The ER does a lot of these things on a regular basis so the skillset of the ER is very good. But not everybody gets to do that," Moreno said. "But with the exposure to these things sooner rather than later, you have a better ability to handle these things if you're faced with that situation."

This training helps reinforce trauma stabilization skills to ensure the staff are prepared to handle local traumas that come to GLWACH as well as remain ready to handle battlefield trauma.

"The acuity of the patients we get sometimes is what you'd see in a big-city emergency room," said Groves.

Trauma cases from the surrounding community often get transported to GLWACH's ER because of its location. The nearest hospital in either direction is more than 30 miles away.

For example, the ER sees trauma cases from motor vehicle accidents as well as gunshot victims.

"I used to work in this area as a paramedic," said Horn. "Right outside the front gate we had four people shot one night. I had a choice to either bring them here or go 30 miles to Phelps County."

The direct intent of this training is to prepare Soldiers to deploy and support battlefield operations.

"This class is going to give (GLWACH staff) more hands-on training to be better prepared to deploy. That's the goal," Moreno said.

The injuries Soldiers see on the battlefield often cross over to injuries seen in a garrison environment, especially when it comes to trauma.


Like all training, the more you do it and prepare for situations you may face, the more comfortable you become when they happen in real-life.

"As human beings, we reason best through situations we've already been in. So, by simulating these types of situations, it's a simpler reasoning process when you're confronted with similar injuries in the future," said Groves.

(Editor's note: Brooks is the marketing specialist at General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital)