(4) Severe anemia.
(5) Chest tubes.
f. Patients with any of the following conditions will require special handling.
(1) Paraplegic patients are transported on the Stryker frame.
(2) Patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis should be considered infectious
and should therefore be in respiratory isolation wearing a mask. The exception to this rule
is documented evidence that the patient has been on adequate chemotherapy for several
weeks. For patients who are air evacuated, it should be documented that they have been
on chemotherapy for two weeks and, therefore, a mask is not ordinarily needed. If the
patient is expectorating, the patient is required to cover the mouth when coughing; an
ample supply of tissue is sent with the patient. Patients generally do not need to remain on
a litter when they have been ambulatory at the hospital. If a mask is deemed necessary by
the physician in charge, the mask is kept on at all times except when eating. Smoking is
discouraged. There is no fear of personal articles infecting other personnel on the aircraft.
(3) Patients with severe burns are not transferred to Brooke Army Medical
Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, without the consent of the Commanding Officer, U.S.
Army Institute of Surgical Research, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston,
Texas.
(4) Viral hepatitis cases are not generally infectious and only general hygiene is
observed. Hepatitis patients who are incontinent or have diarrhea are treated with enteric
precautions.
3-9.
AGENCIES INVOLVED IN EVACUATION AND TRANSFER
a. Global Patient Movement Requirements Center (GPMRC). Located at
Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, the GPMRC is a joint agency of the Army, Navy, and Air
Force established by the DOD charter to regulate and monitor the transfer of patients
worldwide. At the time of its inception as a DOD agency, the Army Chief of Staff (ASC)
was appointed as Executive Agent to provide staff assistance to the agency.
Consequently, the Army Surgeon General was designated as the Executive
Representative to the ACS. Operational 24 hours daily, the agency performs its primary
mission of designating appropriate hospitals to receive patients. The GPMRC maintains a
constantly updated listing of the capabilities of all CONUS DOD medical facilities and
regulates (assigns destination hospitals) for nearly all inpatient transfers to and within
CONUS. The GPMRC also regulates armed service patients transferred to Veterans
Administration and Public Health Service hospitals. Patients are regulated through the
GPMRC regardless of the mode of transportation used to effect the transfers.
MD0752
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