U.S. Army Professional Filler System Nursing Personnel: Do They Possess Competency Needed for Deployment?

Military Medicine, Feb 2006 by Rivers, Felecia M, Wertenberger, Dana H, Lindgren, Katherine

The medical center reported slightly higher scores in clinical nursing competency, operational nursing competency, and psychosocial readiness. Table IX illustrates the statistical data. Because the facility is a large medial center with a trauma center, it could be assumed that nursing personal would experience a greater diversity of patient scenarios. This could account for the higher levels of perceived competency skills.

Data analysis indicated that there were differences in perceived competency levels among PROFIS personnel assigned to various fixed facilities. The differences may result from the training received at the respective medical facilities, previous deployments, or skills learned through personal experiences.

Discussion

Overall, the data in this study illustrated a difference in perceived competency skills, compared with previous studies. The means within the six dimensions were lower in this research than in previous studies using the READI. Participants reported low competency for more than one-half of the clinical competency skills, including caring for patients in hemorrhagic shock, implementing documentation in a field environment, reconstituting medications, performing in a code situation, implementing Advanced Cardiac Life Support protocols without a physician, caring for life-threatening injuries, and implementing triage categories. In operational nursing competencies, the participants indicated they had a low level of competency in obtaining a 12-lead electrocardiogram and low to moderate competency skills in deployable medical systems setup. The participants reported low readiness for dealing with death, dying, and carnage. Most thought that they had a low to moderate ability to adjust to crowded/mixed gender sleeping quarters and that they did not have enough opportunity to train with their deployment units. Based on the results of the study, these groups of PROFIS personnel tend to project a perceived feeling of not having the appropriate competency skills needed for deployment. These results support previous research findings regarding medical personal and deployments.

As military personnel prepare for possible deployment, in view of the present world situation, these perceived feelings could greatly affect mission readiness. Family separation and the unknown greatly influence military deployments. Without the necessary confidence in their nursing skills, individuals could possibly experience even greater levels of stress and discord during deployments, which could affect the quality of care provided.

Conclusions

The purpose of the study was to identify the perceived readiness of U.S. Army PROFIS personnel in the Great Plains Regional Command regarding nursing competency and readiness for deployment during combat missions or MOOTW. Two different types of MTFs were chosen to discern a perceived difference in competency skills based on the type and size of the facility. Historical events might have had an impact on the study results. By the completion of data collection, military nursing personnel were again on a heightened state of alert because of a possible conflict with Iraq. Three areas continue to affect preparation for deployment to combat or MOOTW, namely, competency, military readiness, and psychosocial issues. Of the three, competency continues to be documented as a priority for nursing personnel.