Concept

NATO's strategic goal in the field of military medicine

To provide sustainable military medical support including Force Health protection measures, role 1 to 4 treatment capabilities and medical evacuation to NATO operations worldwide.

Strategic purpose of MILMED COE

To facilitate capacity and capability building through interoperability by multinational standardisation pre-, during- and post-deployment and to provide senior matter expertise in the following areas:

• Medical Lessons Learned focusing on tactical aspects

• Deployment Health Surveillance

• Interoperability and Standardization

• Medical Training, Certification and Validation

Output

For the NATO Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine (MILMED COE) the year 2011 was characterized by a sequence of events that reflect the role that the unit has meanwhile achieved within the NATO military medical community.

• One of the most significant steps was the integration of the Deployment Health Surveillance Capability (DHSC) branch located in Munich, Germany. This integration meant also the joining of France as a steering nation of the MILMED COE. For the DHSC FRA provides significant expertise and is the driving force behind the further development of the underlying capability software. The joining was finalized by the signing of the Memoranda of Understanding and the FRA note of joining in the Supreme Allied Command Transformation on 12th October 2011. With this the MILMED COE is the first and – so far – only Centre of Excellence executing its mission from 2 different countries using a headquarters (Budapest) and satellite branch (Munich) structure.

• Considerable contribution towards the MILMED COE reputation was provided by the Training Branch. Overall 6 high quality courses were organized with 190 participants from 18 countries. It is remarkable that for the first time PfP countries sent participants to the course activities in Budapest in 2011. Along with course conducts in 2011 two new course development projects were initiated in accordance with steering nations’ priorities and based on NATO training gap analysis. The results will be seen and available to the military medical community in 2012. The MILMED COE considers its courses not only as a teaching opportunity but as a forum for an exchange of subject matter expertise. In that sense fruitful discussions were held not only during the events but also during the social activities. It needs to be highlighted that all courses organized by the MILMED COE were accredited by NATO and as a result will be available for partner countries in the ePRIME system in 2012. Furthermore the Budapest Semmelweis University grants between 40 – 50 CME credits for each course and the accreditation by the HUN Nurses’ association was initiated. Specific details about the course calendar, topics and registration procedures can be found on the MILMED COE website (www.coemed.org).

• In order to support the evidence based development of Military Medicine in NATO the establishment of a common NATO Trauma Registry is of highest priority. Through engagement of the MILMED COE, ACT, ACO and national representatives in a task force this project made considerable progress in 2011. For the next year the report about a respective pilot phase is planned for the spring plenary of the COMEDS. It is expected that nations can benefit from results of a common registry still in 2012.

• Hungary hosted the 2011 spring plenary of the COMEDS. During the plenary the medical exercise “Vigorous Warrior 2011” was executed. Medical staff and equipment from 5 of the MILMED COE steering nations was operating in a joint scenario covering all levels of medical battlefield care until the stabilization of a patient for strategic evacuation. The results of the exercise allowed a sound analysis of the operational and technical lessons learned. The design of the exercise scenario and the lessons learned process were coordinated and driven by the MILMED COE.

• The examples described above only provide a flashlight on the MILMED COE’s efforts and activities in 2011. However, they show that the important step from “Initial Operational Capability (IOC)” to “Full Operational Capability (FOC)” that was planned for 2011 was accomplished.

• In addition to the ongoing activities the planned new projects for 2012 are:

• Support in the standardization of surgical education and training
• Simulation in multinational pre-deployment training 
• Development of e-learning tools and capabilities 
• Multinational interoperability in Patient evacuation 
• Improvement and testing of a Health surveillance database

There are still opportunities for nations who are interested in a participation in the MILMED COE to nominate staff either for the Budapest Headquarters or the Munich DHSC Satellite branch. For any further information be invited to visit the MILMED COE for personal talks or have a look at our website.