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American Morning

Doctors Train for War at Trauma Centers

Aired April 01, 2002 - 08:57   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn our attention now to the war in Afghanistan. Two U.S. soldiers were injured in a training exercise yesterday. While none of the injuries were life threatening, the soldiers were treated and returned to duty. The incident underscores the role of military doctors who typically don't get their training under fire.

As CNN's Mark Potter reports, many of them look for front line realism in the trauma centers of big city hospitals, where gunshot wounds and automobile accidents are the norm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Ryder Trauma Center near Miami, another accident victim is medivaced for treatment. This high-tech emergency room sees about 3,500 serious injuries a year, a third of them gunshot and knife wounds.

For Army medical teams preparing for combat deployment overseas, an urban trauma center is a perfect learning lab.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They get a lot of exposure. And hopefully, when they're ready to be deployed to Afghanistan or Pakistan or Somali or wherever they have to go that they'll be able to perform at a high level.

POTTER: At bases where they are normally stationed, most military doctors actually see very little action. Violent crime and serious accidents are rare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're at a small community hospital. Trauma, for us, is, you know, somebody just falling down a couple of stairs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks like a little vessel right there.

POTTER: By agreement between the Ryder Trauma Center and the U.S. Army, combat surgical teams from around the world are rotated through Miami for advanced training and experience. Army and civilian personnel work side by side.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had a knife injury to the left ventricle last night, which is a hand-to-hand combat injury, close combat injury that you would also see in the field. POTTER: The Navy and Air Force have similar programs in Los Angeles and Baltimore. For some of the young medics, this is their first encounter with so much blood and violence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a shock. It's traumatic. It's emotional. And it's better for them to be exposed to that here and to be ready when they're deployed to the field so that they can focus on what they're there to do.

POTTER: The training program was planned before September 11th. But since the war in Afghanistan, rotations to the urban trauma centers have been stepped up. Mark Potter, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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