An Embedded Health Engagement Team Pilot Test

Area of Science:

• Global Health
• Military Medicine
• Public Health Systems

Background:

• Traditional mass patient care activities in global health engagement may not be the most effective method.
• There is a need for innovative health engagement strategies within military operations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test an alternative health engagement method using an Embedded Health Engagement Team (EHET).
• To evaluate the effectiveness of EHETs in improving global health engagement outcomes.

Main Methods:

• An Embedded Health Engagement Team (EHET) was created and executed during CONTINUING PROMISE 2011.
• The EHET integrated into the host nation's public health system for direct patient care and intellectual exchange.

Main Results:

• EHETs resulted in greater satisfaction for both host nation and US health professionals.
• This approach minimized the footprint of US personnel and equipment, emphasizing host nation infrastructure.
• Positive feedback indicated EHETs should be the preferred method for health engagements.

Conclusions:

• EHET engagements offer greater, measurable positive effects compared to mass patient care.
• EHETs are suitable for building partnership, capacity, and security, especially for longer-duration missions.
• EHETs should replace legacy mass care missions as the primary health engagement capability.