A Multidisciplinary Approach to Screen Deployment-Limiting Health Conditions

Area of Science:

• Military medicine
• Public health surveillance
• Health services research

Background:

• Disease non-battle injuries (DNBIs) cause most hospital admissions for soldiers in combat.
• Current Soldier Readiness Program (SRP) processes are reactive, addressing health conditions late.
• Late interventions compromise medical clearance and unit effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• Develop a standardized, sustainable deployment-limiting medication (DLM) surveillance process.
• Proactively screen soldiers for health conditions preventing mobilization.
• Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of pre-deployment medical clearance.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the A-3 performance improvement model.
• Implemented a DLM surveillance process using the DLHC tool and prescription fill history.
• Focused on psychotropic medications and validated the DLHC tool's accuracy.

Main Results:

• Screened 959 soldiers; 421 required intervention/waiver.
• DLHC tool accuracy in predicting intervention/waiver need was 59%.
• Optimizing psychotropic categories could increase accuracy to 90%.

Conclusions:

• DLM surveillance successfully integrated into SRP for proactive screening.
• Early identification of DLHCs can decrease deployment complications.
• The process may improve soldier deployability and unit readiness.