Measuring effectiveness of deployed medical detachments

The Army Medical Department's (AMEDD) efforts to provide on-target combat health and combat health service support to the Warfighter continue to evolve. Within the framework of modularizing the force, The AMEDD integrated the medical battalion (area support), medical battalion (evacuation), and medical logistics battalion into a single multifunctional medical battalion (MMB), approved by Headquarters, Department of the Army, to support the force commander on the ground. In 2005, the 61st MMB (Provisional), the first of its type, deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) 05-07 to provide levels I and II area medical support, ground evacuation, dental, optometry, combat and operational stress control, veterinary services, and preventive medicine. While deployed during OIF 05-07, the 61st MMB commander employed 5 preventive medicine medical detachments across the entire Iraqi Theater of Operations: the 898th Medical Detachment, 485th Medical Detachment, 255th Medical Detachment, 223rd Medical Detachment, and 903rd Medical Detachment. The number of medical detachments assigned to an MMB is situational and based upon the operational requirements of the combatant commander on the ground. The 61st MMB commander faced a unique challenge in evaluating mission success for the individual medical detachments, as each possessed slightly different capabilities as well as number and diversity of inspections covered within their respective area of responsibility. This article describes an extensive matrix, developed by the medical detachment commanders, to measure mission success and provide a useful tool for the MMB commander.