Preparing Canadian military surgeons for Afghanistan

I want to thank Dr. Tien and his co-authors for their enlightening review of CF surgeons activity in Afganistan. My thank you and congratulations also go to the many men and women serving in the CF as surgeons, nurses and professional assistants who are dedicated to high level trauma care under very trying circumstances.

My real concern as a result of reading this article was the sense that there was not a clear plan for the maintanence and future recruitment of the necessary surgeons to continue to provide this level of trauma care through out the world, where ever the CF is deployed. I would envision that such a plan could include firm commitments and well defined relationships with a few of Canada's major trauma centres and affiliated universities where such surgeons can be recruited to and their clinical practise skills maintained in larger departments and divisions of surgery. This is at times very challenging for these academic centres who normally are the trauma centres to hire and support such individuals who may be gone at a moment's notice and otherwise have scheduled absences from Canada for dedicated training and service reasons. They do not represent highly desirable recruits to an academic surgical staff due to these pressures (here one moment and gone the next!). One matter to consider for the CF surgical HR plan would be to make available a comprehensive resource package from the CFHS for these surgeons to make them attractive to our hospital and university centres...salary support and on going academic support (research dollars and possibly personnel). I know that many of the current surgical specialists with CF are already excellent teachers. This level of support would make recruitments of this nature attractive to academic surgical staffs and be role models for future military surgeons. It seems to me that we need to change the model. Without such support ( and some other elements I am sure) I can only see CF struggling to recruit the necessary highly qualified surgical specialists (general surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons) who are almost being asked to do this based on the good will of both them and the surgical departments willing to bring them on as active staff appintments. Maybe such a plan exists?

I wish the best to all our surgical and medical colleagues in the CF!

M. J. Girotti, MD FRCSC FACS Medical Director, Trauma Program, Department of Surgery, London Health Sciences Centre and University of Western Ontario, London ON

Conflict of Interest:

None declared