A Military-Civilian Training Partnership for Army Nurses

In 2018, the U.S. Army Surgeon General created the Army Medical Department Military-Civilian Trauma Team Training (AMCT3) program to enhance the clinical proficiency of medical personnel serving on Army trauma teams called forward resuscitative surgical detachments (FRSDs). FRSDs provide resuscitative and surgical care to wounded patients in the deployed environment until they can be medically evacuated to a higher level of care. Through AMCT3, FRSD personnel work at civilian trauma centers while not deployed in order to maintain their combat casualty care competency.

This article describes an innovative nursing-specific AMCT3 program model in which Army nurses serving on an FRSD are embedded within a level 1 trauma center for a 3-year assignment. The goal of the program, which was established at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in Nashville, Tennessee, is to improve participants' clinical proficiency and skills in preparation for the next major military conflict, with the aim of reducing preventable battlefield deaths.

The VUMC Military Affairs Committee, in consultation with Army medical leaders, developed a unique 3-part model for a nursing partnership program at VUMC. This model includes separate tracks for critical care and emergency nurses. The nurses receive training in their specialty, cross-training in the opposite track, and other professional development opportunities. A critical care nurse and an emergency nurse were assigned to the program in January 2022 and September 2022, respectively.

Between January 2022 and June 2023, the critical care nurse completed all the required individual critical task lists-specialty-specific clinical skills Army medical personnel must be competent in before deployment-except for 1, obtaining intra-abdominal pressure.

The VUMC AMCT3 nursing partnership training model ensures that Army nurses are highly prepared to function as part of the FRSD and to provide superior combat casualty care in a resource-limited environment.