Mission

Maximize performance and survivability of the warfighter by supporting Navy and Marine Corps aviation units through expert aeromedical consultation services development and application of aeromedical standards and training of aeromedical personnel for operational assignments.

Vision

Recognized as the global leader in operational medicine, innovative and responsive to the challenges of the warfighter.

Aims

• Residents acquire all competencies of core preventive medicine and aerospace medicine specialty areas. Competency is characterized by specific knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors enumerated in program accreditation requirements and Service core values.
• Graduates demonstrate competency by certification in Preventive Medicine (Aerospace) and exemplary independent practice of aerospace medicine.
• Graduates are equipped to advance clinical aerospace medicine science and practice, provide health services for populations in austere conditions, and lead the future of aeromedical practice for both military and civilian professionals.

Our program’s academic sessions occur Fridays 8 – 11 a.m. for all residents and rotators. These sessions may be structured as lectures, journal clubs, case presentations, and/or exam reviews. Residents will present often during the academic year on a variety of subjects regarding aerospace and occupational medicine. They will also participate in quarterly journal clubs.

• NASA Clerkship
• Advanced Readiness Officer Course
• Intermediate Leader Development Course

There are no call responsibilities during residency.

The RAM program expands NMOTC’s mission by training medical officers from all U.S. Department of Defense and allied defense forces in both military and civil aviation operations. The RAM program focuses the mission by training leaders in the design and delivery of optimal clinical and operational preventive medicine support to units engaged in military, space and civil aviation operations. The curriculum focuses on the following core elements of military unique medicine:

• Preventive care (medically ready force)
• Ambulatory care (troop medical clinic)
• Consultative care (telemedicine)
• Inpatient care (field hospital)
• Emergency triage and stabilization (battlefield and Role 1 care)
• Critical care (CCAT and Role 3 care)

Our curriculum combines didactics, small-group experiences, simulation, and practical experiences to help prepare our graduates to be ready to provide care from the battlefield to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to the Carrier Strike Group. These educational elements are organized in three domains:

• Deployment readiness
• Leadership
• Deployed Health Care

Examples of specific military unique curricular elements include:

• Advanced Clinical Concepts in Aeromedical Evacuation (ACCAE) Symposium
• Commander Amphibious Task Force Surgeon (CATFS) course
• Expeditionary medicine international rotations (in AY 2023-24, residents rotated to Peru, India, Ghana, Honduras)
• Global Patient Movement Requirements Center coordinates the global movement of patients.
• Medical Effects of Ionizing Radiation (MEIR) Course
• Medical Management of Chemical and Biological Casualties Course (MCBC)
• Military Tropical Medicine course with optional international rotational experience
• Naval Aviation Safety Officer Course
• Naval Enroute Care Course
• Occupational and Environmental Medicine Fundamentals Course
• Radiation Health Indoctrination essential for support of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.
• Recognition and Treatment of Diving Casualties (R&T) Course
• United States Naval Aeromedical Conference USNAC
• Sick Call rotations at Troop Medical Clinics on Navy installations
• Sports Medicine clinic rotations
• Numerous military unique curricular didactics including topics such as sports medicine, special warfare, military finance, military profiling for medical officers, medical retention standards, flight medicine, military utilization panel presentation
• Simulation sessions on trauma care, procedural skills

All residents are required to maintain Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advance Life Support (ALS) certification throughout residency. Residents are required to maintain a current flight physical on file as well.

• Masters of Public Health – available from the University of West Florida
• MTM – Military Tropical Medicine Course or GM – Global Medicine Symposium
• JECC – Joint Enroute Critical Care Course
• WFDI – Worker’s Fitness Disability and Integration
• MCBC – Medical Management of Chemical and Biological Casualties Course
• CAMI – Civil Aeromedical Institute Course
• FAA – Federal Aviation Administration mini-Aeromedical Examiner course
• SPMC – Space Medicine Course

Residents will utilize simulation for BLS, ALS, PALS, Flight Surgeon Primary Course and Navy EnRoute Care (ERC) course.

The program provides a robust opportunity to develop leadership skills throughout residency training. These opportunities range from formal lectures to small group discussions to experiential learning. Opportunities start from the first day of training and increasing levels of responsibility are nurtured in a progressive nature over the 24 months of residency. Residents receive Leadership Professional Development throughout the year from numerous local and guest speakers. Some examples include:

• Opportunity to represent residents on required committees
• Opportunity to serve as a chief resident
• Quality improvement projects
• Scholarly projects
• Command sponsored community service projects

• Systems Based Practice (SBP) is one of six ACGME core competencies for physicians to demonstrate proficiency in for medical care that is safe and of high quality. It is important for physicians to understand how the relationship between patient care and the system and how to use that understanding to further improve patient care quality and safety.
• Residents are required to complete a capstone research project as part of the Master's of Public Health (MPH) program. The research project will be presented in the spring semester of the second year in the program.
• Residents are also required to present a case report at the Aerospace Medicine Association Annual Scientific Meeting during their Aerospace Medicine program and a poster at the American Occupational Health Conference during their Occupational Medicine program.

• As part of our Quality Improvement curriculum, we offer Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Training.
• Modern healthcare institutions are complex adaptive systems. Our program strives to provide highly reliable, safe, and effective care for all our patients while providing high quality medical education for all learners that train in our institution.
• We practice a continuous quality improvement lifecycle to meet these goals and we aim to instill these habits in our trainees.
• Our program has a Chief of Residents and Assistant Program Director for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety to help ensure this is effectively done.

Graduates of the Residency in Aerospace Medicine Residency Program are universally sought out for assignments across the Department of Defense and are highly competitive for frontline response to pressure related injuries, serve as advisors for responders in a large AOR, policy generators for fleet activities that will involve variable pressure environments both at altitude and undersea, and managers of operational units employing the use of a hyperbaric chamber.

The program provides ample opportunities and support for residents to perform, publish, and present research and scholarly work. Residents have typically been able to attend at least one professional conference during residency with many trainees attending more than one conference over their time in training. Our residents have given national lectures, research, and clinical podium presentations, presented workshops at national meetings.

Local Sites:

• Baptist Health Care Center – Pensacola, Florida
• NMOTC Det NAMI Pensacola, Florida
• Naval Hospital Pensacola, Florida
• Naval Aviation Schools Command Pensacola, Florida
• Public Health Department of Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties
• University of West Florida

Others:

• Federal Aviation Administration, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Fort Detrick, Bethesda, Maryland
• Bell Textron, Providence, Rhode Island
• International Academic Conference (Held at various locations throughout the USA)
• Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
• Naval Base Kitsap/Naval Station Bremerton, Washington
• Naval Support Activity Panama City, Florida
• Naval Undersea Medical Institute, Groton, Connecticut
• Scott AFB, Shiloh, Illinois
• US Air Force School of Aviation Medicine – Dayton, Ohio
• Multiple Operational CVN and Marine Air Groups, as available

Our program offers rotations to fourth-year medical students and transitional year interns. Rotations are typically four weeks long. Rotators will work with our resident medical student coordinator to finalize their rotation schedule.

• Rotation duration is flexible and can be coordinated through the GME coordinator and Program Directors.
• The program requests two months’ notice prior to the start of clinical duties to ensure adequate planning of a quality educational experience and that all administrative processes are completed before arrival to our site.
• Medical students may request funded rotations (active duty orders). Rotation requests are processed on a first-come, first-served basis and are subject to rotation availability.
• Interested students must have graduated from ODS (or service-equivalent).
• Student rotations are not available during the months of November through January.

Interviews are offered from August through September annually. Interested applicants can schedule an interview virtually or in person by contacting usn.pensacola.navmedotcnamefl.list.nami-ramcoord@health.mil.

Program graduates take the American College of Preventive Medicine Aerospace Medicine board. This exam is offered every October. To become fully board certified, applicants are eligible to take board certification exam following completion of the MPH degree and graduation. To be eligible to take specialty board exams, graduates must complete all pre-requisites required by the ACPM by graduation. Registration for the board opens in the spring and the Program Director confirms eligibility prior to acceptance to sit the exam. The American Board of Preventive Medicine site has information about registration and material relevant to the board exam such as application dates, exam date range, fees, and exam content breakdown.

Teaching is considered a core competency for trainees in our program. Trainees have opportunities to practice and hone their skills as educators from the outset of training in both formal and informal settings. Some examples of teaching opportunities available to all trainees in our program include:

• All residents are scheduled to develop and present evidence-based medicine presentations over the course of their residency training.
• Residents instruct during the following courses: Flight Surgeon Primary Course.
• Any resident may sign up to earn a Certificate in Health Professions Education from the Uniformed Services University while in residency training.

Core faculty are Aerospace and Occupational Medicine specialists. Some faculty are also boarded in other specialties, such as Emergency Medicine and Hyperbaric Medicine.

We treat our residents as peers and take ownership and accountability of our roles as medical, career, and life mentors. We do not formerly assign mentors. We assign core faculty as advisors to the residents. Additionally, various social activities integrate residents with RAM graduates, allowing the residents to find a mentor that fits with their personal and professional goals.

At weekly didactics the residents and program leadership have purposeful time for camaraderie and open-ended question and answer sessions to discuss any ongoing concerns that affect wellness and well-being. Questions can be professional or personal in nature. The program hosts occasional potlucks and/or activities to promote connections amongst residents, families, and program leadership. We work closely with our residents and listen to their concerns and work hard to resolve them.