E. S. DeSoucy1,2, S. A. Zakaluzny1,2, J. M. Galante1 1University Of California – Davis,General Surgery,Sacramento, CA, USA 2David Grant Medical Center,General Surgery,Travis AFB, CA, USA
Introduction: Graduating military preliminary interns are often required to fill flight surgeon or general medical officer (GMO) billets. When compared with internal medicine and transitional year interns, surgery preliminary interns receive very little training in primary care and flight medicine prior to completing internship. At a joint Air Force and civilian training program (David Grant Medical Center, Travis Air Force Base, and University of California Davis Medical Center) we developed a supplemental course to help transition surgical preliminary interns into the field of flight medicine and GMO.
Methods: From 2013 to 2016 we developed a lecture series, presented during protected didactic time, focused on aerospace medicine and primary care topics. The topics included an introduction to Aerospace Medicine, an overview of flight surgeon duties, and a primer on common clinical diagnoses including their aeromedical implications. Additional lectures on primary care topics of Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Women's Health were added during the 2016 program which was attended by 10 preliminary interns. Pre and post course, a 10 item Likert scale survey was administered. The questions focused on perceived preparedness for primary care role and overall enthusiasm for a flight medicine tour. Participants from 2014 and 2015 participants were surveyed with 8 open ended questions to gauge the effect of the course on their transition.
Results: Pre and post course surveys from the 2016 participants were compared. The composite number of agreement responses (indicating increased comfort with presented material) increased 63% after course completion. The number of disagreement responses and neutral responses decreased 78% and 30% respectively. The open ended survey responses indicated an overall positive impression of the course and all participants felt that it aided their transition into flight medicine. Six of these respondents indicated that they felt more prepared than peers from other programs and 2 indicated no difference.
Conclusion: Our survey responses indicate an overall perceived benefit from participation in the course with more confidence in primary care topics and more enthusiasm for upcoming flight surgeon tours. Our flight medicine track continues to excite and prepare our preliminary interns for their future flight surgeon or GMO tours. This model for supplemental flight medicine and primary care didactics should be integrated into any residency program responsible for training military preliminary interns who will be flight surgeons or GMOs.
