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Journal article
Military Occupations Most Affected by Head/Sensory Injuries and the Potential Job Impact of Those Injuries
Military medicine, Vol.181(8), pp.887-894
08/01/2016
PMID: 27483529
Web of Science ID: WOS:000383688900036
Abstract
Objective: Identifying Department of Defense (DoD) occupations affected by injuries to the head and sensory systems. Methods: We explored the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database to identify occupations with the highest incidence of injured personnel, then ranked how frequently they occurred in a top 10 list for each of four injury categories (head/brain, visual, auditory, vestibular) encompassing 25 injury codes. Across all four categories, the most affected occupations were identified, among which we chose three Army combat-related military occupational specialties (MOSs) for detailed study. We identified skills needed to perform these MOSs and explored whether MOS-critical deficits could be expected following the injuries. Results: Some DoD occupations are more likely to suffer from these injuries, including Infantry, Combat Operations Control, Artillery/Gunnery, Motor Vehicle Operator, Combat Engineering, and Armor/Amphibious. Within these DoD occupations, we explored three Army combatant MOSs: Infantry (11B), Cavalry Scout (19D), and Artillery (13B), confirming that these jobs are likely to be disrupted by injuries within the four categories. Conclusions: Head and sensory injuries disproportionately affect certain military occupations. Relatively few injuries disrupt combat-related abilities that are job critical (e.g., firearms operation) and job specific (e.g., Artillery gunnery problems); these should be the focus of efforts to improve rehabilitation and RTD outcomes.
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Details
- Title
- Military Occupations Most Affected by Head/Sensory Injuries and the Potential Job Impact of Those Injuries
- Publication Details
- Military medicine, Vol.181(8), pp.887-894
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- ASSOC MILITARY SURG US
- Number of pages
- 8
- Grant note
- 12820 / United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), Fort Detrick, MD
- Copyright
- © 2016, Reprint & Copyright © Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.
- Identifiers
- WOS:000383688900036; 99380513296606600
- Academic Unit
- Psychology; Usha Kundu, MD College of Health
- Language
- English