Q&A With Michael Morris From Brooke Army Medical Center: Addressing Pulmonary Conditions In Service Members After Deployment

With soldiers, sailors, and airmen deploying overseas their physical condition when they come back can be vastly different from when they first left. Finding the best ways to treat these patients has been the focus of recent studies on this topic.

Michael J. Morris, MD, from Brooke Army Medical Center discussed how his colleagues are addressing these issues especially after more than a decade of patients coming home from having served in desert conditions and what that means for their overall health.

As with all military conflicts there are lessons to be learned by those on the front lines as well as those treating the service members at home and abroad. How those lessons are implemented can determine the success of missions long down the road.

At a time when most deployments are to desert environments both the location they are being sent to and the jobs they play can all help determine the overall health of the service members while they are there and when they return home.

When a member of the armed forces comes home from deployment they are usually seen by a military doctor at first. However, over time they may transition to veterans or even civilian doctors who will need to consider several factors when providing treatment.

For the foreseeable pulmonologists will likely see many of the same issues affecting their military patients with an eye on providing better treatment as conditions change for future service members.