The First 30 Months Experience in the Non-Doctrinal Operation Inherent Resolve Medical Theater

U.S. military forces were redeployed in 2014 in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), operating in an austere theater without the benefit of an established medical system. We seek to describe the prehospital and hospital-based care delivered in this medically immature, non-doctrinal theater.

We queried the Department of Defense Trauma Registry (DODTR) for all encounters associated with OIR from August 2014 through June 2017. We sought all available prehospital and hospital-based data.

There were a total of 826 adults that met inclusion; 816 were from Iraq and the remaining 10 were from Syria. The median age was 21 years and the most frequent mechanism of injury was explosives (47.7%). Median composite injury severity scores were low (9, IQR 2.75-14) and the most frequent seriously injured body region was the extremities (23.0%). Most subjects (94.9%) survived to hospital discharge. Open fractures were the most frequent major injury (26.0%). In the prehospital setting, opioids were the most frequently administered medication (9.3%) and warming blanket application (48.7%) and intravenous line placement (24.8%) were the most frequent interventions. In the emergency department, Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma exams (64.3%) was the most frequently performed study and endotracheal intubations were the most frequent (29.9%) procedure. In the operating room, the most frequently performed procedure was exploratory laparotomy (12.3%).

Host nation military males injured by explosion comprised the majority of casualties. Open fracture was the most common major injury. Hence, future research should focus upon the unique challenges of delivering care to members of partner forces with particular focus upon interventions to optimize outcomes among patients sustaining open fractures.