Protecting Those Who Serve: Strategies to Protect the Health of Deployed U.S. Forces (2000)
Chapter: Appendix A Study Scope and Statement of Task
APPENDIX A
Study Scope and Statement of Task
STUDY SCOPE
The health of military personnel who served in the Persian Gulf War (PGW), and of those who will serve in future deployments, is a matter of great concern to the veterans, public, Congress, and Department of Defense (DoD). The DoD has requested the advice of the NAS and IOM on a long-term strategy for protecting the health of our nation 's military personnel when deployed to unfamiliar environments. The project will draw on the lessons of the Persian Gulf War and subsequent deployments as well as a variety of other evidence to offer recommendations for: (1) an analytical framework for assessing the risks to deployed forces from a variety of medical, environmental, and battle-related hazards, including chemical and biological agents (CBA); (2) improved technology and methods for detection and tracking of exposures to these risks; (3) improved technology and methods for physical protection and decontamination, particularly of CBA; and (4) improved medical protection, health consequences management and treatment, and medical record keeping.
CHARGE TO THE THIRD-YEAR COMMITTEE
In the study's third year, a newly formed committee will use the reports developed by the four respective sets of principal investigators and advisory panels as a starting point to synthesize a final report. In it, the committee will emphasize and extend those findings and recommendations from the interim reports considered to be most important to a long-term strategy for health protection, as well as expanding its review to broader, cross-cutting issues. The committee
could examine policy, technology, and organizational issues as necessary in considering a strategy for the future.
Areas of potential emphasis and extension from the interim reports include (but are not limited to):
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Use of a systematic approach to evaluate non-battle risks associated with the activities and settings of deployments;
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Training regarding risk assessment, risk management (including exposure minimization), and risk communication before, during, and after operations;
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Collection and management of environmental data and person location, biological samples, and activity data to facilitate analysis of deployment exposures and to support clinical care;
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Computerized patient records and other automated record keeping that supports patient care and military public health needs;
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Medical surveillance spanning the service life cycle and beyond;
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Strategies to address medically unexplained physical symptoms in deployed populations; and
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The role of military preventive medicine in deployment health.
