Importance of Predeployment Training in Emergency Medicine and War Surgery Using Simulation Programs in the French Military Health Service

Civilian as military medical simulation requires a wide range of techniques and educational tools, complementary to each other: Task Trainers, low-mid and high fidelity mannequins, simulated-injured patients, live-tissue training, serious games. In the field of operational medicine, education and training through simulation have expanded considerably in less than ten years in most Western armies, covering all links in the care chain in external operations. For the French Military Health Service, all those programs are coordinated by the Val de Grace School of Military Medicine and are implemented in its three simulation centers (Paris, Lyon, Toulon). Medical and paramedical students, then medical doctors, surgeons and seniors paramedics, must follow dedicated programs during their primary training or their specialized exercise, before every overseas deployment. A good cooperation between French Military Simulation Centers and University Centers is mandatory as a cornerstone point, in order to share not only expensive materials but also knowledge and human competencies, especially in Research and Development.