Physician versus paramedic in the setting of ground forces operations: are they interchangeable?
BACKGROUND
The setting of military ground force operations can be demanding and requires a matched medical assistance plan. A major consideration is the type of medical caregiver that is assigned to the mission. We studied the similarities, differences, advantages, and disadvantages of physicians versus paramedics in this scenario.


METHODS
We interviewed 20 ground force physicians, highly experienced in this setting. We summarized their responses and formulated quantitative decision-making tables regarding two sorts of missions: a long-duration mission, far from friendly definitive care, and a short-duration mission, close to friendly hospitals.


RESULTS
The major areas in which physicians and paramedics differ, pertinent to a ground force operation are: formal education, on-job training, knowledge base, ability to treat a wide variety of medical conditions, ability to perform manual lifesaving procedures, social and moral impact, availability, physical fitness, combat skills, and cost. Of a maximum score of 100 points, for a long-term mission a physician scores 77.7 points while a paramedic scores 63.6 points. The scores for a short-term mission are 72.7 and 67.9, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Physicians and paramedics are distinct groups of medical caregivers and this is also true for the setting of ground force operations. They are not interchangeable. Our data show that a physician has a relative advantage over a paramedic, especially in long-term missions, far from friendly facilities.


CONCLUSIONS
A physician is the first choice for all kinds of military ground force missions while a paramedic can be a reasonable substitute for missions of short duration, close to definitive care.
Levy
Gad
G
Surgeon General Headquarters, Israel Air Force, Tel-Hashomer, Israel.
Goldstein
Liav
L
Erez
Yair
Y
Levite
Ronen
R
Bar
Udi
U
Marmor
Meir
M
Linn
Guy
G
Onn
Erez
E
Levi
Yehezkel
Y
Bar-Dayan
Yaron
Y
D002983:Clinical Competence; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007557:Israel; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000193:education*; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D014218:Triage; D014857:Warfare; D000078329:Workforce