Aug

12

AF Medical EPRs

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This might come in handy: the good folks over at Air Force Writer have begun compiling some examples of EPR bullets that Air Force Medics can use. So far they only have examples for 4A0X1 (Health Services Managers) and 4B0X1 (Bioenvironmental Engineering), but I suspect that EPR samples for the other AFSCs are in the works. Also: a list of useful phrases to incorporate into EPRs. They also maintain a good list of unofficial Air Force community sites.

Jul

20

Baylor MHA

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How many of you are familiar with the Baylor MHA program? It’s the military’s Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) program that partners with Baylor University. The actual program is conducted at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. It is taught by both civilian Baylor professors and military instructors, and the prerequisites for entry it is pretty tough to get into.

“If you graduate from college with a 2.0 GPA you can still apply to Harvard Business School’s MBA program,” Coppola says. “You won’t get accepted, but you can apply. Here at Baylor, you have to be a top-level performer just to be allowed to apply - and then there is more culling on this end.” (Patrick and Coppola, for example, competed as students against nearly two dozen other soldiers for two of the Army slots).
“The students refer to it as ‘taking a long drink from a fire hose,’” says Lt. Col Nick Coppola, the program’s director. “Typically, the first year they spend about 40 hours in class and another 50 hours studying each week in addition to maintaining all the other military standards required of them. So that’s a pretty appropriate metaphor.”

The program consists of one academic year at Ft Sam Houston totalling 60 credit hours. Courses include strategic planning, quantitative analysis, international health, epidemiology, finance, information systems, health policy, and medical jurisprudence. A grueling year, especially when coupled with military requirements such as physical fitness and team projects.
After completing the academic year, students are sent to year-long residency programs at large hospitals or other healthcare agencies, such as Johns Hopkins, Wilford Hall Medical Center, and Ben Taub General Hospital. During residency, the students observe and learn about managing large healthcare systems, complete various projects for the COO or Administrator, and complete a comprehensive Graduate Management Project.
The academic standards, the comprehensive course of study, and the demanding residency all add up to the Baylor MHA program being ranked #20 in the nation by US News & World Report; it is almost always in the top 25 out of more than 300 programs in the nation.
Also of note: the Baylor MHA program is open to all branches of military service (AF, Army, Navy) and also to civilians in the Veterans Administration. Graduates are largely healthcare administrators (MSC officers), but every class also includes a handful of nurses, at least one physician and one dentist, and a smattering of allied health officers such as pharmacists and podiatrists.
If you’d like to learn more about the Baylor MHA program or the history of it and the alumni, one of the long-time professors in the program, David Mangelsdorff, maintains a large list of links and resources.
And how do I know so much about the program? Why, I’m a graduate, of course! If you plan to make the AFMS a career and have a passion for healthcare administration, then this is the program for you. You will learn things and meet people that simply can’t be duplicated in a “civilian” MHA program.

Jun

3

Medical Service Corps (MSC) Roles

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Got an e-mail asking me what healthcare administrators (MSC officers) in the Air Force Medical Service do in their day-to-day job. Here is a list of the most common duties of junior MSC officers:

Resource Management Officer: direct the financial planning, manpower program, data collection, and business office functions. In a small facility, you will be the sole officer, with a likely staff of one or two enlisted folks and two or three civilians. In a large facility, there will likely be two officers – one as the “chief” and one as the “deputy.”

Managed Care Officer: responsible for managing the integration between the military facility and the civilian healthcare network; oversee referral management, liaison with civilian providers; usually have a few military and several civilian employees, and likely a few contract employees.

Medical Logistics Officer: responsible for procuring, distributing, and maintaining all supplies and equipment used in the facility; oversees the Facility Management function (infrastructure) and the Biomedical Maintenance/Repair function. Generally the most “military” environment of an MSC, with a large contingent of enlisted staff and only a few civilians.

Information Technology/Systems: manage the overall IT program, which is considerable in all AF medical facilities. Procure, deploy, and manage network applications and MS Office programs; maintain the “electronic medical records” systems; liaison with other AF network managers.

Medical Readiness Officer: responsible for ensuring all wartime training and education is conducted by and for all military medical personnel at your facility; plans and executes “wargames” to test the skills of medical personnel in both wartime and peacetime contingencies (natural disasters, etc).

These positions are pretty “corporate” in many ways; nearly all of them involve you, a desk with a computer (lots of Powerpoint!), attending meetings, managing your staff, and exhibiting leadership. You are, essentially, a junior executive. The day-to-day uniform at most AF bases and at most AF medical facilities is the “BDU” or “camouflage” uniform. On special occasions – such as formal ceremonies, or meeting with civilian counterparts in their respective facilities – you might wear the “blues” uniform – blue slacks, light blue shirt, tie, etc. But mostly you wear your cammies.

There are other roles for junior MSC officers that fall outside of the “routine” — such as Executive Officers, headquarters (regional HQ) positions, aeromedical evacuation, health promotion officers, and a few others. But most entry-level MSC officers will likely have one of the jobs listed above during their first several years in the Air Force.

Note: the above references are largely for the “peacetime” Air Force responsibilities at regular Air Force bases. In a deployed environment (Iraq, etc), most MSC officers spend their time doing Medical Logistics and/or managing Aeromedical Evacuation.

May

29

Types of AFMS Officers

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Lots of people assume that all Air Force medical officers are doctors or nurses, but there are actually many other types of medical officers. Let’s take a look: all Air Force medical officers are classified into one of five unique groups, known as “corps.”

Medical Corps (MC): the physicians (only MD medical doctors and DO osteopaths; naturopaths and chiropractors are not permitted in the AFMS)

Dental Corps (DC): strictly dentists (minimum DDS degree)

Nurse Corps (NC): nurses (minimum Bachelor of Science in Nursing); this category also includes nurse practitioners

Biomedical Science Corps (BSC): the “cats and dogs” of the AFMS, the BSC includes what is often referred to as “allied health” in the civilian world. It includes non-physician clinicians such as psychologists, optometrists, physician assistants, pharmacists, physical therapists, and public health and bioenvironmental engineers.

Medical Service Corps (MSC): the healthcare administrators of the AFMS (must have at least a bachelors degree in business, management, healthcare administration, information systems, or one of several other categories).

Apr

24

New AF Nurse Corps Chief

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kimberly siniscalchi Some surprising news in the world of the Air Force Nurse Corps! With the retirement of Maj Gen Melissa Rank, who served as the Chief Nurse of the AFMS, the position has been filled by Colonel Kimberly Siniscalchi. Yep - you read that right: a Colonel is being promoted to Major General, bypassing the rank of Brigadier General. I’ve never heard of someone skipping the one-star rank, so this is amazing. The position of Chief Nurse (aka Corps Chief) of the Air Force became a two-star job several years ago, when then-Brig Gen Barbara Brannon (who I had the pleasure of working for briefly) was tapped to fill the slot and became the first-ever 2-star AF nurse. Congratulations to Maj Gen-select Siniscalchi on her promotion and new position!

Jan

14

Becoming An Air Force Medic

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There are two primary means of becoming an Air Force Medic: the first way is to enlist in the Air Force and be selected to train as an AF medic in one of dozens of medical career fields, such as lab tech, pharmacy tech, medical services tech, physical therapy tech, and so on.

Generally, people who enlist in the Air Force have not completed a college degree, and work as technicians. These people are often referred to as the “backbone” of the Air Force, because they make up the majority of people in service and accomplish the majority of the work. Basic training for enlisted AF medics is seven weeks at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, followed by specialty training at either Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, or Brooks Air Force Base (also in San Antonio). The length of the specialty training depends on the specialty: for example, a healthcare administration technician spends only six weeks in specialty training, whereas more advanced training for radiology technicians can take more than six months. Once an Airman has completed basic and specialty training, he/she is then transferred to their first “real” Air Force base to begin serving as an Air Force Medic. In civilian terms, the enlisted medics are the EMTs, LPNs, pharmacy techs, business office staff, and other para-professionals.

The other way to become an Air Force medic is as a commissioned officer. To become a commissioned officer in the Air Force Medical Service, you must have completed at least a bachelor’s degree and usually a graduate (professional) degree. Commissioned officers in the AFMS are the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, administrators, psychologists, and such. In civilian terms, the officers of the AFMS are just what they are in civilian life.

I’ll have more information soon about the how/what/where of basic (enlisted) training and officer training for Air Force medics.

Jun

12

Trading Stripes For A Lantern

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The AF has unveiled a new program that will allow enlisted members - with certain prerequisites completed - to become commissioned officers as members of the Air Force Nurse Corps:

The Nurse Enlisted Commissioning Program, or NECP, will give enlisted members the opportunity to complete a full-time bachelor of science degree in nursing at an accredited university while on active duty. The nurse corps hopes to select 50 students for the upcoming fall semester.

Much like entrance into the AF Physician Assistant program, the NECP requires certain classes to be completed (as part of a minimum of 59 credit hours) to be considered: psychology, anatomy and physiology I and II (labs required), microbiology (lab required), chemistry I and II (labs required), nutrition, and statistics.
Nurses are amazing, and Air Force nurses even more so. If you’ve harbored dreams of becoming a nurse, this looks like a great opportunity.

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