Research Catalog

Title

Enhancing interoperability among enlisted medical personnel : a case study of military surgical technologists / Harry J. Thie ... [et al.] ; prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Publication

Santa Monica, CA : RAND, 2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• Thie, Harry.
• Center for Military Health Policy Research.
• Rand Corporation.
• United States. Department of Defense. Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Description

xxxv, 174 p. : ill.; 23 cm.

Summary

One way to enhance the interoperability of medical service personnel is by training service specialists to a common standard. A methodology is outlined for defining a common standard of practice (SOP) that can be applied to any enlisted medical specialty with the goal of consolidating training for enlisted military personnel across the services. The methodology involves three analytic tasks: Define a common SOP for the specialty, validate it through reviews by military and civilian subject matter experts, and identify a set of training options that will result in the required number of specialists trained to a given level of proficiency. The methodology is illustrated by applying it to the military surgical technologist specialty. The authors examine the commonality of work across services rather than commonality of training as currently provided to define a common scope of practice. They identify and evaluate different training methods and different ways of obtaining qualified medical personnel. However, the authors note that achieving common training is a necessary but not sufficient condition for achieving interoperability and that interoperability may be more easily achieved in future years as other transformational initiatives are implemented.

Uniform Title

Rand Corporation monograph series ; MG-774.

Subject

• United States. Army > Training of
• Operating Room Technicians > standards
• Operating Room Technicians > economics
• Military Medicine > manpower
• Medicine, Military
• Texas
• United States
• Fort Sam Houston (Tex.)

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

System Details (note)

• Mode of access: World Wide Web.
• System requirement: Adobe Acrobat reader.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction -- Methodology for defining and implementing a common standard of practice for a specialty -- A current profile of the surgical technologist specialty -- Defining and implementing a common standard of practice for surgical technologists -- Producing a qualified surgical technologist: in-house training -- Other options for obtaining qualified surgical technologists -- From common work and training to interoperability -- Conclusions and policy implications -- Appendix A: The interservice training review organization and the review process -- Appendix B: Scope of practice for surgical technologists as defined by the Association of surgical technologists -- Appendix C: Data-collection tool: Air Force -- Appendix D: Role and value of accreditation -- Appendix E: Estimating trade-offs between training time and productivity: review of previous studies -- Appendix F: Using a nonlinear function to estimate effectiveness curves -- Appendix G: Summary of prior studies on buy options -- Appendix H: Military-civilian conversions.

ISBN

9780833046246 (pbk. : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2009008109

OCLC

312445050

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library