Combating the “Peacetime Effect” in Military Plastic Surgery: Implications for Mission Readiness

ABSTRACT Military treatment facility-assigned surgeons face numerous challenges in maintaining critical wartime skills, including the “peacetime effect” and the “dual mission.” Using the field of plastic surgery to illustrate these issues, we contrast plastic surgeons’ contributions to combat casual...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Military medicine 2021-07, Vol.186 (7-8), p.183-186
Main Authors: Fox, Justin P, Markov, Nickolay P, Latham, Kerry P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clinical medicine
Plastic surgery
Surgeons
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Summary:ABSTRACT Military treatment facility-assigned surgeons face numerous challenges in maintaining critical wartime skills, including the “peacetime effect” and the “dual mission.” Using the field of plastic surgery to illustrate these issues, we contrast plastic surgeons’ contributions to combat casualty care with primary data describing plastic surgeons’ clinical practice in many military hospitals. Then, we outline the current administrative mechanisms being promoted at the enterprise-level for surgeons to gain a more mission-focused, clinical practice, while also examining significant shortcomings in these policies. Finally, we conclude with a call to action for the military surgical community to accelerate change in the development of more robust clinical practices for our surgeons, or potentially lose our ability to field a ready surgical force.
ISSN:0026-4075
1930-613X
DOI:10.1093/milmed/usab162