Assessment of Casualty Transport Equipment and Procedures Aboard U.S. Navy Submarines to Accommodate Anti-Shock Trousers.

摘要

Confined spaces necessitating non-ideal stretcher positioning and the potential for significant transportation times to definitive care combine to make casualty evacuation from a submarine much more onerous than in typical state-side scenarios. Anti-shock garments, while having fallen out of favor in the general community, may provide certain benefits in specific submarine medical evacuation scenarios, such as those involving hemorrhagic shock. A review of pertinent literature is presented as well as an evaluation of both inflatable and non-inflatable anti-shock garments for potential use in the submarine medical community. Both types of garments were found to accommodate submarine casualty egress, with several advantages noted for the non-inflatable variety. Current clinical trials of these newer, non-inflatable devices should be monitored as they may prove applicable to multiple austere military medical environments.