Doctors who serve: Becoming a Navy flight surgeon

Physicians have a long history in the military from treating disease in the Civil War to treating battle wounds in field hospitals in Afghanistan. One resident is training now to become a Naval flight surgeon, and when he completes residency, he will attach to a jet and helicopter squadron and deploy with those soldiers as their front line physician. Wherever they go, he will go. After doing a one-month internship in flight surgery last year with the Navy where he spent time on an aircraft carrier and steered a helicopter over the water, Josh Lesko, MD, a flight surgery resident in the Navy, decided it was right up his alley and headed to Pensacola, Fla., to continue his training.“There are a couple of things that have a reputation—one is called “the dunker,” which is where you are strapped into a helicopter and it’s allowed to sink,” Dr. Lesko said. “When helicopters sink, they turn upside down. So we are about ten feet underwater strapped into the helicopter and have to learn how to get out with full gear on, no gear on, with black out goggles so we can’t see … to simulate all the different ways we might be in a helicopter when it goes down.”Training to serve those who serve There are three tracks for resident physicians in the Navy. The first,General Medical Officer, is a physician on a ship or in a clinic. The second,Undersea Medical Officer, is a physician attached to a dive unit. And the third,Flight Surgeon, is a physician attached to a flight squ...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news