This year, WarDocs, the Military Medicine Podcast, featured interviews with two members of the 2024 ESS Executive Council, Colonel John Horton, MD, FACS, and Captain Matthew D. Tadlock, MD, FACS. Part of the WarDocs mission is to preserve the oral history and showcase the unique expeditionary experiences of military medicine, which is complementary to the ESS three-part mission of preserving the lessons of the past, improving care in the present, and anticipating challenges of the future.
Colonel John Horton, MD, FACS, US Army
Dr. Horton, ESS Treasurer and Army pediatric surgeon, was featured in episode 3 of the Combat Surgery series. This episode focused on pediatric trauma care in the deployed environment, giving listeners insight into the intricacies of treating the youngest casualties of conflict. He discusses the challenges in taking care of the youngest victims of war, including managing pediatric blast injuries, and using standard telecommunication technologies such as FaceTime to mentor far-forward general surgeons operating on an infant with a distended abdomen. Dr. Horton shares invaluable advice for those facing deployments in pediatric trauma care and highlights the importance of being prepared for the unpredictable.
The interview with Dr. Horton is available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify.
Captain Matthew D. Tadlock, MD, FACS, US Navy
In the episode, "Life, Learning, and Surgery on the High Seas," Dr. Tadlock, ESS Vice-President and Navy trauma critical care surgeon , discusses his experiences managing surgical patients on US Navy combatant vessels. the differences between large warships with extensive facilities and smaller vessels with limited medical supplies are describer, emphasizing the indispensable role of Independent Duty Corpsmen (IDC) in the maritie trauma system. The challenges surgeons and IDCs face managing injured and ill patients on naval ships, including conducting surgeries with limited resources, handling mass casualty, situations, and surgical logistics at sea are discussed.
Dr. Tadlock also reviews the development of the handbook Expeditionary Surgery at Sea. This unique resource, developed and edited by Dr. Tadlock and Commander Amy Hernandez, MD, FACS, is written for and by all members of the maritime surgical team.
The interview with Dr. Tadlock is available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify.
Visit the Excelsior-WarDocs webpage for a list of WarDocs podcasts featuring other members of the ESS.
