These "healthcare officers" offer health services at military medical facilities depending on their area of specialty. Those who diagnose, examine, and treat patients or prisoners with disease, injury or illness include: dentists, registered nurses, and physicians. All of these people have been members of these professions in civilian life first. Similarly, those who provide rehabilitative therapy, such as physical therapists, have also been physical therapists in civilian life.
Fulfilling the duties in Peacetime
With the advent of war, there are an increasing number of military personnel returning from battle with severe mental, physical and occupational injuries. Because of this, are especially important right now to help soldiers who are suffering from battle injuries and need them treated. Military personnel are also needed right in the areas of a battle to treat life-threatening injuries immediately after they have occurred.
Military doctors
Military doctors fulfill the duties they provided in civilian life. For example, surgeons treat war injuries with surgery, including bodily injuries like limb, head or chest injuries, or any injuries inflicted with bombs, IEDs, guns, shrapnel, and so on. These surgeons usually specialize in the areas they practiced in civilian life. For example, neurosurgeons do neurosurgery, open heart surgeons do open heart surgeons, and so on.
Military nurses
Military nurses work one-on-one with patients in a variety of ways. They teach patients and their families to manage the injuries they've received in the armed forces. When patients first come in, they may take medical histories to help determine injuries or symptoms, perform tests and help determine the results, and help administer treatment and medications. They may also help patients in their rehabilitation during recovery.
One of the most important things nurses can do is work one-on-one with patients and provide them emotional support as they learn to recover from injuries or illnesses. They help them learn how to manage their injuries or illnesses and educate families on how to do so, too. In addition, they administer medication while the patient is in the hospital and help them get started on any therapeutic or treatment programs. They keep careful records of patients, including any observations in regard to behavior. They work with doctors to plan and implement the treatment program patients will receive. Oftentimes, they are among the first medical personnel on the scene if someone has been injured. Therefore, they often provide first aid treatment in addition to their other duties.
Physical and Occupational Therapists
Physical and occupational therapists are needed in rehabilitative hospitals to help patients cope with injuries and learn how to live with sometimes permanent disabilities. They teach patients how to do all the activities of daily life again, including walking, standing, performing daily tasks, self-care, etc. Oftentimes, people with wartime injuries must learn how to do tasks all over again, such as getting dressed, taking care of personal hygiene, feeding oneself, and simply taking care of daily life. These military medical personnel usually do not work in immediately dangerous situations, but instead treat those who have returned from war and are getting ready to reenter civilian life, or to return to military life once their injuries have been treated and they have been rehabilitated.
Military Medics, or Emergency Medical Technicians
Those who function as military medics are perhaps the only medical personnel in the armed forces that can receive on-the-job training and don't have to have a specialized degree before entering the military to do the medical job at hand. Medics are among the first people to treat injuries on the battlefield, providing first aid and stabilizing the patient as much as possible before he or she gets to a medical facility for in-depth treatment. Medics often put their own lives at risk to help save people who have been injured.
To become trained as a medic, you must usually have at least a high school diploma. Then, you're given formal training and certification beyond that. You'll learn emergency skills, such as respiratory and cardiac management, and treating trauma. You'll also learn how to assess patients' injuries. You'll be given instruction on how to deal with stabilizing patients as much as possible at the scene of injuries so that they can be transported to areas where they can receive further treatment.
Other qualifications
Regardless of the areas military medical personnel specialize in, they have to have the emotional and psychological stability to handle very intensely stressful situations. They'll need to be able to have the physical capabilities also, to manage what may be very physically stressful situations as well, such as a lot of lifting and carrying.
Compensation and outlook
Military medical personnel are given military pay based upon rank and job duties at hand. At present, outlook for these jobs is very good, especially because the military itself is in dire need of new personnel on an ongoing basis. Much of the work occurs overseas at present, which means that anyone who undertakes these assignments will likely leave the United States and go work elsewhere, sometimes in very dangerous situations.
