title: Prehospital care and the military.
abstract: Significant evolution has occurred in prehospital care over the past decade. Civilian emergency medical service (EMS) systems have become progressively sophisticated. Military systems have tended to maintain a wartime philosophy toward prehospital care, and thus its peacetime ambulance service, at times, is not prepared to provide the same standard of care given by the civilian community. This article reviews the current status of civilian and military EMS and attempts to put in perspective the directions that the military could go to improve on the prehospital care it provides.
authors.affiliation: Department of Military Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814-4799.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jagoda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pietrzak
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hazen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vayer
mesh_terms: D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000639:trends*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States