WASHINGTON, DC— The Army Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4) electronic medical record systems are being upgraded to help providers better document mild TBI patient data in theater.

BETHESDA, MD—Where do you find resiliency as a healer and a soldier? As the role of combat medics becomes more and more important to the increasing survival rate of combat casualties, that is a question that military psychiatrists are asking.

BETHESDA, MD—It was two years ago that Ira Katz, MD, PhD, then chief of VA’s mental health services, told researchers at the VISN 20 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) in Portland, OR, that they should begin focusing some of their research on TBI.

WASHINGTON, DC—When seeking psychological support for mental health issues after deployment, servicemembers and veterans most often turn to their minister.

BETHESDA, MD—For a handful of military mental health providers on the front lines, treating combat stress and trauma is an everyday occurrence. The military has begun to realize that the advice and care they furnish can often prevent acute battlefield trauma from becoming a chronic stateside problem.

BETHESDA, MD—Women comprise nearly 20-percent of the military. Many women, like their male counterparts, return from combat traumatized by the events they experienced.

BETHESDA, MD—There is a pressing need to understand what the rehabilitation trajectories are going to be for those servicemembers returning with mild and moderate TBI, according to Kris Siddharthan, PhD, a health services researcher at the James A Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, FL.

WASHINGTON, DC—A holistic approach to care makes the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) unique in how it treats servicemembers with psychological issues.

BETHESDA, MD—“Combat injury is not an event. It’s a process.” Those words, spoken by Stephen Cozza, MD, associate director of the USUHS Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, could have been taken as the central theme of DCoE’s Trauma Spectrum Conference held last month on the campus of NIH. The conference has focused attention for the last three years on the effects of combat trauma not only on the soldier, but also on their spouses, children, friends, and society as a whole.

BETHESDA, MD—The science into the biological mechanisms behind the psychological symptoms of PTSD is still in its infancy, but studies have linked PTSD to other serious health problems, including cardiovascular disease, chronic pain, fatigue, and metabolic disorders. Research funded by NIH is suggesting that the cause of this link might have its roots in endocrine and immune function differences in patients with PTSD and most significantly in those with co-morbid major depressive disorder.