Occupational Diseases: Army Medics Prepared for Emotional Trauma of War

Army Lt. Col. Donald Robinson worked as a trauma surgeon at Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey before he worked as the chief of surgical and critical care at the U.S. Army's main medical center in Iraq. Robinson's past surgical experiences, however, did not prepare him for the injuries he saw in Iraq. Because improved body armor and medical care means that more soldiers are able to survive war injuries that once would have meant certain death, injuries are more extensive than any seen in combat before.

U.S. Army medics train for "shock and horror"

Robinson says he can't count how many amputations he performed while working in Iraq: "They were too numerous to count," he said. Robinson currently works as the head of the Army Trauma Training Center and works to prepare army medics headed to Iraq for the "shock and horror" of the experience. While much of the training goes over traditional aspects of medicine, the training also covers "compassion fatigue," which is a post-traumatic stress disorder that affects medical personnel who treat severe wounds. "I think the only way you can get over that is to be trained to understand that, yes, it's devastating, but you sort of have to disassociate yourself or distance yourself away from what you're looking at," Robinson says.