Nonanimal Training Methods U.S. Military Could Be Using
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org
FROM
Physicians Committee
August 2009
Because widely validated and accepted nonanimal alternatives for chemical
casualty care and combat trauma training courses exist, there is no
justification for the use of live animals for these training purposes.
This use of animals in military medical courses constitutes a violation
of the Department of Defense’s own joint regulation on animal welfare, which
states that alternatives must be considered and used if available and also
explicitly prohibits inflicting wounds on nonhuman primates.
Because widely validated and accepted nonanimal alternatives for chemical
casualty care and combat trauma training courses exist, there is no
justification for the use of live animals for these training purposes.
Chemical Casualty Care Training
Superior nonanimal, human-based training methods exist that could
immediately replace the use of vervet monkeys in the U.S. Army’s “Chemical
Casualty Resuscitation Practical Exercise.”
- Researchers with the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps and Israel’s
Carmel Medical Center have developed a nonanimal training curriculum for the
medical management of patients exposed to nuclear, biological, and chemical
weapons. The course includes lectures, simulation training, and the use of
moulage, in which actors with applied makeup mimic the symptoms of chemical
warfare casualties.
- John Pawlowski, M.D., Ph.D., director of anesthesia at Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center in Boston and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School,
has organized numerous scenarios that simulate mass casualty incidents and
nerve gas attacks. These scenarios use human patient simulators, which mimic
human responses to biological and nerve agents—including physostigmine—and
moulage. Similar models are used at medical centers across the United States
to prepare personnel for mass casualty incidents in the case of a terrorist
attack.
Combat Trauma Training
At least three different approaches to combat trauma training are necessary
because different types of skills and levels of knowledge are required of
three distinct groups. In each case, nonanimal training methods could
replace the use of goats, pigs, and other animals.
- Physicians and Physician Assistants: The most important elements of
combat trauma training for physicians and physician assistants are realism,
human-specific injuries and treatments, volume of trauma exposure, and team
building. The ideal trauma and casualty training method is exposure to real
injuries in humans, such as that provided by the participation of U.S.
military medical teams at high-volume trauma centers. The Army Trauma
Training Center has been described as providing “exposure to a high volume
of traumatic injuries that closely mimic those seen on the battlefield.” In addition, the Air Force’s Center for Sustainment of Trauma and
Readiness Skills (C-STARS) program exemplifies how effective trauma training
can be achieved by combined use of simulators, human cadavers, and civilian
trauma centers. At centers in St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Baltimore, C-STARS
courses teach chest tube insertion using simulators, fasciotomy using
cadavers, and a number of other procedures using live human patients who
enter trauma centers with severe injuries.
- Medics and Corpsmen: The re-creation of battlefield scenarios remains an
integral element to the training of medics and corpsmen. The ideal training
paradigm for medics and corpsmen combines simulation tools, immersive
simulated environments, and civilian trauma center training. The use of live
animals is inferior to simulation for specific skills training and inferior
to trauma centers for human-specific training similar to the battlefield
experience. The U.S. Army’s own Combat Trauma Patient Simulator has been described as
“simulating, replicating, and assessing battlefield injuries by type and
category such as hemorrhaging, fractures, amputations, and burns; monitoring
the movement of casualties on the battlefield; capturing the time of patient
diagnosis and treatment; comparing interventions and outcomes ateach
military healthcare service delivery level.”
- Infantry: In the absence of a medic or corpsman, an infantryman’s job is to
control hemorrhaging, stabilize soldiers who have sustained injuries, and
generally render care at the scene of the injury—likely while still under
hostile fire. Optimal first responder training for infantry includes the use
of simulators such as Laerdal’s SimMan, CHI Systems’ HapMed limb simulator,
and/or other simulators. These human anatomy-appropriate teaching methods
can be used in conjunction with simulation of austere battlefield
environments.
Take action: Ask Your
Congressperson to Co-sign Rep. Hank Johnson’s Letter to the Army to End
Military Animal Testing.
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