A SURVEY OF OUTPATIENT VISITS IN A UNITED-STATES-ARMY FORWARD-UNIT DURING OPERATION-DESERT-SHIELD

Reports suggest that deployed soldiers during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm remained healthy, but primary care data are limited. We reviewed the outpatient visit surveillance data from the 3d Armore d Cavalry Regiment to obtain information regarding soldiers' health in the field. Nontraumatic orthopedic problems accounted for the highest incidence of primary health care visits, followed by unintended injur ies, gastrointestinal, respiratory, and dermatologic conditions, Visit s for heat injuries, sexually transmitted diseases, unexplained fever, and psychiatric problems were low, probably due to preventive measure s. These results suggest that increased prevention to decrease orthope dic problems and unintended injuries may substantially reduce outpatie nt visits during future deployments. Medical surveillance during futur e deployments can be improved by taking advantage of current advances in technology to facilitate patient data retrieval and provide timely information to first- and second-echelon medical personnel.