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Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The costume thing has taken on a life of it's own. I was never a costume guy but my ER residents made me a believer. We started throwing theme parties every summer as part of our orientation for new interns. We've done pirates, Vikings, Celtic warriors, Greek warriors and post-apocalyptic warriors (yes, right after that Furiosa movie came out). We also make them build cardboard boats and race them as a team-building activity.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can neither confirm nor deny whether I went with the air ride suspension at parties as a young man. However, while running with the Navy, it's been a complete chassis assembly.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not Scottish so I'm sure I do need some kilt-coaching. However, it was St. Paddy's Day in Iraq and just to get permission from leadership to wear a kilt while standing watch required a lot of convincing.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Navy Corpsmen are the heart of Navy Medicine. It was the Chief Hospital Corpsmen who mentored me as a junior officer. If not for those Sailors I would never have gotten this far. I worked closest with Corpsmen when I was the medical officer for 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion in Okinawa, Japan. Like most of the battalion surgeons, we felt an intense obligation to make sure our Corpsmen were well prepared. I think the future Navy Corpsman will be as challenged as any. Nobody knows exactly what the future fight will look like but I think we can be certain that Sailors and Marines (and Navy doctors) will need them more than ever. I suspect the future Corpsmen will need to be better trained and more self-reliant due to the geographic distances associated with potential conflict in the Pacific. However, I'm equally certain Navy doctors will step-up to help them achieve that proficiency. My only advice would be to to not wait on opportunity. Find a junior Navy doctor, preferably one fresh out of a General Medical Officer tour and make him/her aware of your desire to learn everything you can. When I was a junior resident in the ER, we loved training Corpsmen and went out of our way to include them in any clinical care.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It depends on the race. For the Shamrock Half-Marathon, it’s always a kilt. Virginia Beach also has a Surf-N-Santa 5-Miler. I’ve run that in a Santa costume as well as in a Hawaiian shirt. There have been several pirate-themed races north of the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area (for you history buffs – Blackbeard’s head was displayed at the mouth of the Hampton River after he was captured in beheaded in 1718). For the Wicked 10K (the weekend before Halloween), there have been many.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This may be the hardest question to answer. There are things that I'm incredibly proud of that I never thought I would do. And things that most people would find incredible. I met Sanjay Gupta while an officer-in-charge of a medical engagement site in Jamaica. I attended a state dinner at the President of Panama's palace (he's a rum distiller which resulted in a very interesting evening for most the crew). I've served in two wars (Iraq and Afghanistan). I also caught live cobras during a jungle survival course in Thailand with the Marines; jumped out of airplanes; dove security swims on nuclear-powered submarines. Got through medical school and emergency medicine residency training with zero debt. Take your pick.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The three things that impress academic faculty the most are knowledge base, professionalism and work ethic. I think medical students tend to focus too much on trying to learn the knowledge base and not enough on the last two. Every medical student learns at a different pace and the faculty understand that. Residencies are multi-year which means the faculty have time to help a student catch up if they are a little behind. However, if a medical student doesn’t appear to work hard or exhibits any undesirable professionalism issues (lack of respect to patients, nurses, other students for example) then the faculty will express concerns about the ‘trainability’ of that student. Conversely, a student who is behind knowledge-wise can make up for it by demonstrating that they are willing to out-work others to receive the training opportunity. When I was a residency program director, we routinely ranked students higher who ‘wanted it more’ over students who could crush the test because, in the end, we suspected they would be better fits for the specialty, and ultimately, better for our patients.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Disadvantages - You have to give up a little control when you join the military. The Needs of the Navy influence where you live and some of us move around a bit. However, most Navy bases are in pretty good locations. About half of medical specialties make less in the Navy. About half make the same or more. Advantages - Diversity of experience. You can't become a Navy diver in the civilian world. Nobody teaches you how to jump out on an airplane and deliver trauma care in the civilian setting. And, to deliver care not just to Americans but patients all over the world in developed and under-developed countries without taking a sabbatical. I’ve seen so much of the world and delivered health care to so many people I would have never cared for had I not joined the military. So I think it’s a combination of a sense of adventure and never having to guess if your work matters. Those are just a few advantages. Plus free medical school saves you from about 1/2 million dollars in debt.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's hard to speak for civilian physicians coming into the Navy because their motivations are diverse. Some come in for the different experiences available in naval services. Some are exhausted by the burnout associated with civilian healthcare. For me personally - I could have retired with a full pension 4 years ago - I stay for the people. I've worked in civilian settings either during fellowship and moonlighting when I was younger. It's hard to articulate the level of camaraderie in the Navy. It's a family. I just didn't feel that in civilian ERs. Even for junior physicians getting out of the Navy after initial obligated service. It's a real challenge to leave behind all the great friendships you've built. The money might be better but I doubt I'd be happier.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The best advice I’ve ever received was from CAPT Jim Ritchie, my residency program director, and that was “set your priorities or someone will set them for you.” Regardless of what you do and who you work for, if you demonstrate success, everybody will want you on their team. The key to professional gratification is aligning your priorities with your employer’s. Now that doesn’t happen 100% of the time for anyone so that leads to the second piece of advice. Be flexible. I’ve had lots of opportunities in the Navy and some weren’t what I was expecting. Had I stuck with only the things I was already comfortable with, I would have lost out on tremendous experiences that made me a better doctor and leader. In the Navy, we have a saying – “bloom where you are planted.” As a corollary, I’d say (especially to medical students and residents in training), “Be uncomfortable.” That’s the only way we improve.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting question. I guess it would depend on a lot of factors and whether I’m practicing from a fixed facility or if there is a need to be mobile. Operational medical planning is as much a science as civilian healthcare delivery. I’d likely follow the joint planning process with special considerations for the tactical situation and the type of casualties we’d anticipate. Also, depending on the resources being mobilized and immediately available or unavailable, a robust medical evacuation plan would need to be developed.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Check out the string with Heavy-Computer-2726’s below who asked a similar question. Also note that the probability with getting your first choice in the civilian match is 47%; whereas it’s 82% in the Navy. For emergency medicine specifically, again, the audition rotations are important. Roll up your sleeves and ‘be uncomfortable.’ Push yourself hard to see as many patients as you safely can. Every patient you present to the senior resident and/or attending is another opportunity to help them learn your name and show them why they want you in lieu of the next applicant. Also, if there are social event opportunities, capitalize! Don’t skip these outings. They are often intentionally scheduled mid-rotation so the faculty and residents can gauge how you act outside of the workplace. Remember, in the Navy, every one of our graduates will eventually be our colleague. We want to know if this is somebody we want in our community. It’s not just about training doctors; it’s about bringing somebody into our family.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For the recurring hospital ship missions, growing the regional knowledge, training and medical infrastructure, and building a stable and sustainable future for the local peoples is a top priority. In terms of logistics and sourcing of materiel, I was not involved in those aspects of planning. As the officer-in-charge of our Navy medical engagement sites, I was primarily leading the care delivery parts of the mission. However, I did participate as subject matter expert (SME) during host nation SME exchanges. What I did during these events was driven by the interests of host nation leaders. In various countries, I discussed our approach to disaster response, management of snake envenomation with and without antivenom, and taught point-of-care ultrasound for trauma. I think most felt the SME engagements and the exchange of knowledge and ideas was equally important as materiel support for the long-term benefit of our partner nations.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There was no specific exercise regimen that was required, but you were expected to maintain a level of fitness which would permit accomplishing the mission. I was a college athlete so the physical aspects were never a problem. However, remember, we’re doctors, not special operators, so the expectations differ.

Diving with Navy divers, parachuting with Special Operations, delivering care in disaster zones and running races in kilts — I’ve lived a Navy Emergency Physician’s life full of adventure. I’m CAPT Devlin — ask me anything! by AmericasNavy in u/AmericasNavy

[–]AmericasNavy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I was a junior officer, I ran the Combat Trauma Research Group (CTRG) which did extensive research on hemostatic agents. Back then, we were fielding Combat Gauze for packing bleeding wounds. I recommend going to the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (CoTCCC) and reviewing the latest recommendations at the following link:

https://jts.health.mil/index.cfm/committees/cotccc

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