Jun

26

Air Force Medical Promotions!

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One of the happiest days in any Airmen’s life is finding out that you have been selected for promotion, and today the Air Force Personnel Center released the list of personnel who have been selected for promotion to the ranks of Technical Sergeant (TSgt) and Master Sergeant (MSgt). Here is the entire TSgt list, and here is the entire MSgt list. If you only want to know about the MEDICAL promotees, keep reading here…!

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Jun

12

AFMS News Roundup

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You’ve read about CCATT here before, and now you can buy some nifty CCATT gear from some folks in Ohio at the CCATT Shop.

Some optical news: a team from Wilford Hall (WHMC), Sheppard AFB, and an Army unit deployed to St Kitts - tough assignment! - and provided optometric care to hundreds of villagers. The good folks at Lions Clubs also helped by providing donated eyewear. And retired Colonel Stephen Waller, the former chief of ophthalmology at WHMC, is still serving in a new capacity; he “deployed” to Iraq with a mobile “crash cart” to provide care to hundreds of Iraqis.

And the long march towards consolidation continues: Wilford Hall Medical Center and Brooke Army Medical Center, the two bastions of military medical care in San Antonio, are moving closer to becoming an integrated “San Antonio Military Medical Center” (aka SAMMC). Of course, if you were in San Antonio in the late 80s/mid 90s, this might sound vaguely familiar: you might recall “JMMC” - the Joint Military Medical Command. This current effort to integration, however, is likely to be permanent, as it has the force of BRAC behind it.

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Jun

5

AF Medics Role in CSAF/SecAF Firings?

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Most of you by now have read or seen the remarkable news about Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynn and AF Chief of Staff Michael Moseley being fired by Defense Secretary Gates. There are plenty of undercurrents to the situation, but the one that the public is primarily focused on - and the one getting the most press - is the two high-visibility incidents involving nuclear weapons and equipment. There is some speculation that the zero-defect standards (and adherence to same) that Strategic Air Command (SAC) was famous for have become somewhat degraded in the years since SACs demise.
One mil-blogger’s analysis of the situation involves the Personnel Reliability Program (aka PRP)…and where there’s PRP, there’s Air Force medics:

3) The Medical Corps Takes a Pass. In many cases where medical conditions should have prevented PRP certification, the Chief tells us, Air Force medical officers refused to take a stand. “They complained a lot because it put the monkey on their backs to do their duty,” he remembers. “I had medical folks tell me: ‘Chief, your standards are too high.’…The mental health folks were the worst. I can count on one finger the number that did their duty. It was both the officers and the NCOs.

Naturally, I’m a bit biased in favor of the AF medics (docs and all). Yes, it’s possible that the AFMS plays a role in this, but if so, it is a VERY small piece of it. I work directly with medical PRP folks, and I am continually impressed with how diligent everyone is when it comes to PRP. Everyone knows the rules and the reasons, and I have never witnessed any AF medic compromise on PRP. Of course, my direct knowledge is limited to my experience at my base; I know that other bases have their own quirks and culture, so of course PRP might be an issue elsewhere, albeit a very small issue as I noted above.

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Jun

3

Medical Service Corps (MSC) Roles

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Got an e-mail asking me what healthcare administrators (MSC officers) in the Air Force Medical Service do in their day-to-day job. Here is a list of the most common duties of junior MSC officers:

Resource Management Officer: direct the financial planning, manpower program, data collection, and business office functions. In a small facility, you will be the sole officer, with a likely staff of one or two enlisted folks and two or three civilians. In a large facility, there will likely be two officers – one as the “chief” and one as the “deputy.”

Managed Care Officer: responsible for managing the integration between the military facility and the civilian healthcare network; oversee referral management, liaison with civilian providers; usually have a few military and several civilian employees, and likely a few contract employees.

Medical Logistics Officer: responsible for procuring, distributing, and maintaining all supplies and equipment used in the facility; oversees the Facility Management function (infrastructure) and the Biomedical Maintenance/Repair function. Generally the most “military” environment of an MSC, with a large contingent of enlisted staff and only a few civilians.

Information Technology/Systems: manage the overall IT program, which is considerable in all AF medical facilities. Procure, deploy, and manage network applications and MS Office programs; maintain the “electronic medical records” systems; liaison with other AF network managers.

Medical Readiness Officer: responsible for ensuring all wartime training and education is conducted by and for all military medical personnel at your facility; plans and executes “wargames” to test the skills of medical personnel in both wartime and peacetime contingencies (natural disasters, etc).

These positions are pretty “corporate” in many ways; nearly all of them involve you, a desk with a computer (lots of Powerpoint!), attending meetings, managing your staff, and exhibiting leadership. You are, essentially, a junior executive. The day-to-day uniform at most AF bases and at most AF medical facilities is the “BDU” or “camouflage” uniform. On special occasions – such as formal ceremonies, or meeting with civilian counterparts in their respective facilities – you might wear the “blues” uniform – blue slacks, light blue shirt, tie, etc. But mostly you wear your cammies.

There are other roles for junior MSC officers that fall outside of the “routine” — such as Executive Officers, headquarters (regional HQ) positions, aeromedical evacuation, health promotion officers, and a few others. But most entry-level MSC officers will likely have one of the jobs listed above during their first several years in the Air Force.

Note: the above references are largely for the “peacetime” Air Force responsibilities at regular Air Force bases. In a deployed environment (Iraq, etc), most MSC officers spend their time doing Medical Logistics and/or managing Aeromedical Evacuation.

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May

29

Types of AFMS Officers

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Lots of people assume that all Air Force medical officers are doctors or nurses, but there are actually many other types of medical officers. Let’s take a look: all Air Force medical officers are classified into one of five unique groups, known as “corps.”

Medical Corps (MC): the physicians (only MD medical doctors and DO osteopaths; naturopaths and chiropractors are not permitted in the AFMS)

Dental Corps (DC): strictly dentists (minimum DDS degree)

Nurse Corps (NC): nurses (minimum Bachelor of Science in Nursing); this category also includes nurse practitioners

Biomedical Science Corps (BSC): the “cats and dogs” of the AFMS, the BSC includes what is often referred to as “allied health” in the civilian world. It includes non-physician clinicians such as psychologists, optometrists, physician assistants, pharmacists, physical therapists, and public health and bioenvironmental engineers.

Medical Service Corps (MSC): the healthcare administrators of the AFMS (must have at least a bachelors degree in business, management, healthcare administration, information systems, or one of several other categories).

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May

27

Commercial Break

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If you’d like to help support Air Force Medics, take a look at some of these Amazon best-sellers. If any of them strike your fancy, click on through, make a purchase, and a few pennies will go towards keeping this site going. Thanks for any support!

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May

23

Assocations

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While all Air Force medics are part of a like-minded organization and corps, there are also “civilian” organizations designed to promote, educate, and entertain them. Here’s a few of them:

Society of Air Force Physician Assistants: unfortunately, most of this website is for members-only, but if you’re and AF PA, definitely worth checking out.

MSC Association: although this organization is primarily devoted to retired Medical Service Corps officers, they have recently begun marketing to active-duty MSCs.

Society of Air Force Nurses: open to all AF nurses, including Guard, Reserve, and retired.

Armed Forces Optometric Society: this one is targeted not just at Air Force optometrists, but also our sister services.

If you know of any other AFMS-oriented organizations, let me know.

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May

11

AF Surgeon General: After the AF

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three star general

What do Air Force Surgeon Generals do when they retire? Serve as policy advisors, educators, and public speakers, in addition to consulting for both private enterprise and government. Here’s a look at the three most recent former AF/SGs:

Former AF Surgeon General “Peach” Taylor spends his time at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies; this is in addition to recently being hired by Northrup Grumman as the “vice president for the Information Technology (IT) sector’s Health and Human Services division.”

Former AF Surgeon General Paul “P.K.” Carlton is staying busy; in addition to spearheading the homeland security program at Texas A&M, he was recently hired as a consultant for Telemedicus: “…testing and research for TMDI’s products and business concept.” More about General Carlton here.

Former AF Surgeon General Charles “Chip” Roadman serves on the board of trustees for Altarum, which aims to “…drive a shift in the pattern of health care spending in the U.S. from programs consumed by cost of care to systems centered on the value of health.” He also spends time on the board of directors for Assisted Living Concepts, Inc.

Isn’t it cute that they all have nicknames? Peach, PK, and Chip - sounds like some sort of fraternity!

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Apr

24

New AF Nurse Corps Chief

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kimberly siniscalchi Some surprising news in the world of the Air Force Nurse Corps! With the retirement of Maj Gen Melissa Rank, who served as the Chief Nurse of the AFMS, the position has been filled by Colonel Kimberly Siniscalchi. Yep - you read that right: a Colonel is being promoted to Major General, bypassing the rank of Brigadier General. I’ve never heard of someone skipping the one-star rank, so this is amazing. The position of Chief Nurse (aka Corps Chief) of the Air Force became a two-star job several years ago, when then-Brig Gen Barbara Brannon (who I had the pleasure of working for briefly) was tapped to fill the slot and became the first-ever 2-star AF nurse. Congratulations to Maj Gen-select Siniscalchi on her promotion and new position!

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Apr

3

AFMS Deployed News

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The folks at the 447 EMEDS at Sather AB are small in number, but awesome in spirit…

To help alleviate the stress put on the 11 doctors, nurses and medics at the 447th Expeditionary Medical Squadron here, Col. Gregory Biernacki, the 447th EMEDS commander, has implemented training for the other 11 non-clinical members of the staff. The medical logistics, administration, public health, dental and bioenvironmental engineering personnel recently went through two weeks of training to teach them basic medical care, such as inserting an IV, assessing injuries, the proper use of a gurney and emergency room standard operating procedures. “The idea is to get everyone up to a level that they can provide trauma care, stabilization and transport,” said Colonel Biernacki, who is deployed from 192nd Medical Group, Virginia Air National Guard. “We’re trying to get the most bang for our buck with all our people.”

And over at Balad AB, a historic piece of infrastructure is being transferred to Washington DC for display…

The emergency room from the old Balad AB Air Force Theater Hospital, which was a temporary tent structure, was recently dismantled and packaged up. It was shipped April 1 to the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, where it is slated for exhibition because it is known, by the medical community, as the place where the most American blood was spilled since the Vietnam War.

And speaking of Balad…an AF doc there received a Purple Heart…

Capt. (Dr.) Adrian Barcus, an intensive care unit staff physician for the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, received a Purple Heart and the Iraqi Campaign Medal from Brig. Gen. Burt Field, 332 AEW commander, at the Air Force Theater Hospital here March 7. Dr. Barcus, deployed from Scott Air Force Base, Ill., was injured in the line of duty March 6 from an enemy attack here.

To all of the Air Force medics serving “Over There” — thank you.

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