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A field hospital is a temporary
hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
or mobile
medical unit
The term military medicine has a number of potential connotations. It may mean:
*A medical specialty, specifically a branch of occupational medicine attending to the medical risks and needs (both preventive and interventional) of sold ...
that takes care of
casualties
A casualty, as a term in military usage, is a person in military service, combatant or non-combatant, who becomes unavailable for duty due to any of several circumstances, including death, injury, illness, capture or desertion.
In civilian usa ...
on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities.
This term was initially used in
military medicine
The term military medicine has a number of potential connotations. It may mean:
*A medical specialty, specifically a branch of occupational medicine attending to the medical risks and needs (both preventive and interventional) of sold ...
(such as the
Mobile Army Surgical Hospital
Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals were U.S. Army field hospital units conceptualized in 1946 as replacements for the World War II-era Auxiliary Surgical Group hospital units, which had become obsolete. MASH Units were in operation from the Korean ...
or MASH), but it has also been used to describe
alternate care sites used in disasters and other emergency situations.
A field hospital is a medical staff with a mobile medical kit and, often, a wide
tent
A tent () is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using gu ...
-like shelter (at times an inflatable structure in modern usage) so that it can be readily set up near the source of casualties. In an urban environment, the field hospital is often established in an easily accessible and highly visible building (such as
restaurant
A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...
s,
school
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...
s,
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
s and so on). In the case of an airborne structure, the mobile medical kit is often placed in a normalized container; the container itself is then used as shelter. A field hospital is generally larger than a temporary
aid station
An aid station is a temporary facility (often a tent, table, or general rest area) established to provide supplies to endurance event participants or medical first aid and provisions during major events, disaster response situations, or military ...
but smaller than a permanent
military hospital
A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...
.
International humanitarian law
International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by prot ...
such as the
Geneva Conventions
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...
include prohibitions on attacking
doctors
Doctor or The Doctor may refer to:
Personal titles
* Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree
* A medical practitioner, including:
** Physician
** Surgeon
** Dentist
** Veterinary physician
** Optometrist
*Other roles
** ...
,
ambulance
An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport.
Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...
s,
hospital ship
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones. ...
s, or field hospitals buildings displaying a
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
, a
Red Crescent
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, an ...
or other emblem related to the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, an ...
; deliberately attacking or otherwise causing harm on these health facilities (especially during warfare or armed conflicts) may constitute a
war crime.
Field hospitals are also prevalent in the event of
disease outbreak
In epidemiology, an outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease when cases are in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire ...
s and
pandemic
A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...
s. The ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
led to the establishment of field hospitals in many parts of the world, especially in the
developing world
A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
.
By country
France
Field hospitals in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
are managed by the
SAMU (French
emergency medical service
Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...
). Two types of mobile medical kits (''poste sanitaire mobile'' or PSM) are used:
* The level one mobile medical kit (PSM1): it can handle 25 heavy casualties on any type of ground; it is made of about 400 kg of equipment and drugs placed in 10 tanks, with also logistic equipment (trailer, inflatable tent, lighting, generating unit); there are 42 PSM1 in France;
* The level two mobile medical kit (PSM2): it can handle resuscitation care for 500 patients; it is made of 8 tons of equipment and drugs (200 references) in 150 tanks, it can be divided ( is possible to set up several sub-fracedPSM2); in addition to the usual logistic equipment of the PSM1, the PSM2 has a tactical
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
network and a management computer system. There are 21 PSM2 in France.
The PSM are stored in the hospitals where there are
samus and
smur
Emergency medical services in France are provided by a mix of organizations under public health control. The central organizations that provide these services are known as a SAMU, which stands for (Urgent Medical Aid Service). Local SAMU organis ...
s.
The PMA is organized in four zones:
* a reception and
triage
In medicine, triage () is a practice invoked when acute care cannot be provided for lack of resources. The process rations care towards those who are most in need of immediate care, and who benefit most from it. More generally it refers to prio ...
zone, under the responsibility of a sort physician; the casualties are sorted and dispatched according to the seriousness of their state;
* two zones for medical care:
** Absolute emergencies zone (UA: ''urgences absolues''): prehospital resuscitation unit for very serious cases: extreme emergencies (EU: ''extrème urgence'') and grave injuries (U1);
** Relative emergencies zone (UR: ''urgences relatives''): for the serious (U2) and light injured (U3)
* Mortuary zone (''dépot mortuaire'') for the deceased casualties. This zone is under the responsibility of the
judicial police
The judicial police, judiciary police, or justice police are (depending on both country and legal system) either a branch, separate police agency or type of duty performed by law enforcement structures in a country. The term judiciary police is mo ...
.
In case of really massive disaster, it is possible to have several PMA; the evacuation goes then not directly to a hospital, but to another big field hospital called "medical evacuation centre" (''centre médical d'évacuation'', CME), to avoid the saturation of the hospitals.
In case of a
red plan, the PMA is under the responsibility of a physician chosen by the director of medical rescue (DSM), and he is assisted by a
firefighter
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
officer chosen by the commander of rescue operation (COS). The firefighter officer has in charge the identification of the living casualties and of the secretaryship. The aim of the PMA is to sort and stabilize the casualties before their evacuation to a hospital.
A similar system can be set up as a preventive measure for some very big events (sport championship, cultural events, concert...), but managed by first aid associations. It is then called an "associative medical post" (''poste associatif médicalisé'', PAM). (For smaller events, is simple
first aid post, with only volunteer
certified first responder
A certified first responder is a person who has completed a course and received certification in providing pre-hospital care for medical emergencies. Certified individuals should have received much more instruction than someone who is trained ...
s and no medical staff, is set up.)
The civil defence military units (''Unité d'instruction et d'intervention de la sécurité civile'',
UIISC
{{unreferenced, date=September 2016
The Engineering Arm, or ''l'arme du génie'', is the Military engineering arm of the French Army.
The Engineering Arm's soldiers are known as sappers (''sapeurs''). Its soldiers in the Paris Fire Brigade ...
) have airborne field hospitals. The general system is called
DICA (''détachement d'intervention de catastrophe aéroporté'', i.e. airborne disaster unit), and is specialized in
search-and-rescue
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
and in emergency medicine; it can be enhanced by the Fast civil defence medical unit, called ESCRIM (''élément de sécurité civile rapide d'intervention médicale''). The ESCRIM is a surgical unit (''detachement d'appui chirurgical'') assisted by a medical assistance unit (DAMHo, ''détachement d'appui médical et d'hospitalisation''); the later is specialized in pre- and post-operation care, and allows 48h of hospitalization. The UIISC also has a PMA (i.e. sort, stabilization and evacuation structure) when the hospital infrastructure of the country is sufficient.
Namibia
The
Namibian Defence Force
The Namibian Defence Force (NDF) comprises the national military forces of Namibia. It was created when the country, then known as South West Africa, gained independence from South Africa in 1990. Chapter 15 of the Constitution of Namibia establ ...
operates a mobile field hospital through its Defence Health Services Directorate. It was donated by the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
government to Namibia in March 2013. Initially it was a UN level two hospital but has now been upgraded to level one. The field hospital is containerized in tents, it has capacity to treat forty outpatients per day and can admission capacity of twenty patients. It has two
intensive care
Intensive care medicine, also called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes pro ...
units, laboratories, an
X-ray
An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
unit and a mobile oxygen concentrator. The dental department can treat 20 and four operations can be carried out daily. It has its own mobile logistics support wing consisting of kitchens, water purifiers, water tanks, toilet and shower containers, generators and sewage and refuse disposal facilities.
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
the hospital was deployed to
Hosea Kutako International Airport
Hosea Kutako International Airport (also known as HKIA) is the main international airport of Namibia, serving the capital city Windhoek. Located well east of the city, , it is Namibia's largest airport with international connections. From it ...
to aid the country's response.
United States
![Field Hospital Visit (49746816753)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Field_Hospital_Visit_%2849746816753%29.jpg)
In the
United States Army Medical Department
The Army Medical Department of the U.S. Army (AMEDD), formerly known as the Army Medical Service (AMS), encompasses the Army's six medical Special Branches (or "Corps"). It was established as the "Army Hospital" in July 1775 to coordinate the me ...
, the term "field hospital" is used as a generic term for a deployable medical facility. However, from 1906 to the present, with small interruptions, the department has had specific organized units called "Field Hospitals." These numbered units, for example the
10th Field Hospital have specific tables of organization and equipment, capabilities, and doctrine for their employment, all of which have varied over time. Readers should take care not to confuse the generic American field hospital with a specific numbered XXth Field Hospital, as the two cannot be used interchangeably. An Evacuation Hospital, a
Mobile Army Surgical Hospital
Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals were U.S. Army field hospital units conceptualized in 1946 as replacements for the World War II-era Auxiliary Surgical Group hospital units, which had become obsolete. MASH Units were in operation from the Korean ...
(MASH), a
Combat support hospital (CSH), a Field Hospital and a numbered General Hospital are all field hospitals—but a MASH, CSH, a General Hospital or a Field Hospital are not interchangeable.
[Field Manual 8-55, Planning for Health Service Support, United States Army, February 1985.]
Switzerland
![San Hist WELASYS - Schweizer Armee - Steel Parade 2006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/San_Hist_WELASYS_-_Schweizer_Armee_-_Steel_Parade_2006.jpg)
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, the
Swiss Armed Forces
The Swiss Armed Forces (german: Schweizer Armee, french: Armée suisse, it, Esercito svizzero, rm, Armada svizra; ) operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, re ...
were mobilised to support
civil hospitals in Switzerland. Similar measures were taken in other countries.
See also
*
Aid station
An aid station is a temporary facility (often a tent, table, or general rest area) established to provide supplies to endurance event participants or medical first aid and provisions during major events, disaster response situations, or military ...
*
Argentine Air Force Mobile Field Hospital
The Argentine Air Force Mobile Field Hospital ( es, Hospital Reubicable de la Fuerza Aérea ) is a field hospital operated by the Argentine Air Force. Established on August 21, 1981, it is one of three health centres of its kind worldwide.
Descri ...
*
Battalion Aid Station
{{no footnotes, date=February 2013
In the United States Army and Marine Corps, a battalion aid station is a medical section within a battalion's support company. As such, it is the forwardmost medically staffed treatment location.
During peaceti ...
*
Casualty Clearing Station
In the British Army and other Commonwealth militaries, a Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) is a military medical facility behind the front lines that is used to treat wounded soldiers. A CCS would usually be located just beyond the range of enemy ...
*
Expeditionary Medical Support System
The Expeditionary Medical Support System (EMEDS) is a modular field hospital system developed by the U.S. military for mobile deployment of medical treatment facilities in any location.
EMEDS consists of a variety of modular, medical response pa ...
*
Forward surgical teams
In the United States Army, Medical Detachments (Forward Surgical), popularly known as Forward Surgical Teams (FST), are small, mobile surgical units. A functional operating room can be established within one and a half hours of being on scene an ...
*
Hospital ship
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones. ...
*
Portable Surgical Hospital
During World War II, Portable Surgical Hospitals (PSH) were a type of field hospital within the United States Army. They were units of the United States Army Medical Department designed to be man-portable by the team staffing the hospital. Unique ...
*
Regimental Aid Post {{unreferenced, date=February 2013
In the British Army, Canadian Forces and other Commonwealth militaries, the Regimental Aid Post (RAP) is a front-line military medical establishment incorporated into an infantry battalion or armoured regiment for ...
*
Shipping container clinic
*
List of former United States Army medical units
The following is a list of former (inactivated or decommissioned) U.S. Army medical units – both fixed and deployable – with dates of inactivations, demobilizations, or redesignations.
Named hospitals Civil War era
''Note: an asterisk (*) ...
References
*
Further reading
*
External links
''The Nurses of the 51st Evac Hospital In WWII''Supplier of field hospitals to the US ArmyUtilis SAS, Designer and Supplier of field hospitalsSMU's Frank J. Davis World War II Photographs
{{Authority control
Military medical installations
Disaster preparedness
*
Emergency services
Types of health care facilities