Unit Medical Personnel's Responsabilities for Combat Stress Control

Unit Medical Personnel's Responsibilities for Combat Stress Control


Advise and inform leaders and soldiers/patients on stress.
Encourage healthy fitness of the soldiers; assist leaders with after action debriefings, sleep plans, hygiene, nutrition, and hydration.
Detect excess stress early and intervene when feasible, treat and release soldiers back to the small unit or to rest in the small unit's higher headquarters (1 to 2 days maximum) before returning to duty.
Hold the stress cases who cannot return immediately to their units and give brief (1 to 3 day) restoration in medical holding facilities.
Refer (evacuate) temporarily unmanageable stress cases but only to the next medical echelon or to the nearest combat stress control teams.
Know and provide information to unit leaders on combat stress control team locations and capabilities.
Provide transportation, if possible, for combat stress control personnel when they provide consultation to units.
Be alert for stress symptoms in all physically injured and ill soldiers (both return-to-duty and evacuated-to-conus cases) and initiate immediate treatment.
Provide quality health service support in the form of preventive actions, routine care, emergency treatment, and convalescent care for return to duty or evacuation.
Note: When soldiers know that they will receive timely medical care if wounded, injured, or ill-that is a powerful stress controller.