Biggest hospitals in each Branch?

athena55, BSN, RN · Feb 21, 2009

Hey all,
Just wondering, where are the biggest hospitals/medical installations for each banch of the service?
IE: the "biggest" Army hospital, Navy hospital, Airforce etc.
I know some are "combined" and that is fine to.
If people could give me the top 1 or 2 of each that would be great.
Also if you know about overseas, especially Europe would be AWESOME too!
Thanks!

MW:

try this link, should give you the information you are looking for on the Army side of the House:

www.branchorientation.com/nurse/profile.html

And from what I am hearing, in the near-furture many will be combined, tri-force (Army, Navy, Air Force)

athena

sassysoldier · Feb 25, 2009

Navy are Bethesda, SanDiego and Norfolk.

I keep hearing about the combined healthcare too. I would actually like that. What do you all think?

just_cause, BSN, RN · Feb 26, 2009

Sassy - where do you hear about this? What exactly is combined health care? Branchs have been sharing hospitals and training facilities and maint depots for a long time... that is what I think of when I hear 'combined health care'. There are so many specific uses each branch has that they need some control... ie navy and af has more aviation focus, army has some prepared to 'jump in', and when you have additional command involved it lowers reaction time of branches being able to plan/act quickly.

allnurses Guide · Feb 26, 2009

Sassy - where do you hear about this? What exactly is combined health care? Branchs have been sharing hospitals and training facilities and maint depots for a long time... that is what I think of when I hear 'combined health care'. There are so many specific uses each branch has that they need some control... ie navy and af has more aviation focus, army has some prepared to 'jump in', and when you have additional command involved it lowers reaction time of branches being able to plan/act quickly.

A combined DOD medical force has been the talk well before my time in the military. About 1-2yrs ago the all the branches voted on combining their medical forces (which would have saved billions of dollars). Unfortunately, the AF decided that they didn't think their pilots would get the appropriate medical treatment if they joined with their other two sister services.

Your argument doesn't really make since either. Each service would be allocated X amount of medical personel to cover their mission. I work in a joint environment right now, and it isn't like I give some special anesthetic, because I am AF vs Army or Navy. What you gain by joining the medical services is a more even distrubituion of resources, centralized command and control, consistent deployment times for all services, unity of policies/forms/supplies etc., and not to mention the savings of billions of dollars. To make the whole thing work all medical officers would have to put under DOD centralized control with local supervision/control at your assigned base.

sassysoldier · Feb 26, 2009

since I realized I asked a question in a post intended to be about big hospitals I decided to post a separate question and clear up my question to get views. I will respond there so I won't mess up the intentions of this post. :mad:

GeorgiaBoy61 · Mar 17, 2009

A combined DOD medical force has been the talk well before my time in the military. About 1-2yrs ago the all the branches voted on combining their medical forces (which would have saved billions of dollars). Unfortunately, the AF decided that they didn't think their pilots would get the appropriate medical treatment if they joined with their other two sister services.
Your argument doesn't really make since either. Each service would be allocated X amount of medical personel to cover their mission. I work in a joint environment right now, and it isn't like I give some special anesthetic, because I am AF vs Army or Navy. What you gain by joining the medical services is a more even distrubituion of resources, centralized command and control, consistent deployment times for all services, unity of policies/forms/supplies etc., and not to mention the savings of billions of dollars. To make the whole thing work all medical officers would have to put under DOD centralized control with local supervision/control at your assigned base.

I am a civilian, but know a few things about military culture, and my question is this: Given all the economies obtained by joint medical care under the DOD, is it worth what will be lost in terms of espirit d'corps, service identity, tradition, and identity?

Many healthcare providers join the military medical community specifically because they are not only doctors or nurses (or whatever), but soldiers, sailors, or airmen also. I'd argue that - if anything - the services should move to make the medical community more and not less, like the rest of the military. That is, all medical personnel should be trained to the same standard as their line military peers in the enlisted or officer ranks, in tactics, arms, PT, etc. Enlisted medics and corpsmen already receive such training, why not their officer counterparts? The Marines, who have no medical services themselves, have it right in one respect: every Marine is a rifleman. That is, every member of the USMC is trained first as a infantryman, then in whatever his/her MOS is. The Army, navy and AF don't do that with medical officers, who are regarded as specialists capable of doing only one thing, medical care. My view is that either you are a soldier (or sailor or airman) or you are not; there is no "in-between." So, I don't see how walling off medical personnel under the DOD strengthens their ties to the line military. Traditions are vital to sustaining members of the different services and their branches, so I'd move carefully before changing them.

lifeafter40 · Mar 18, 2009

I agree with you in that espirit d'corps is a valuable aspect of being a Military Medical professional, and being prior service, this is one of the factors drawing me back into the Army. However, in a military environment where joint operations and civilian outsourcing are becoming more and more prevalent, it only seem to make sense that the medical services will eventually become a joint effort as well. We have seen the Navy"'CB's" done away with, many of their tasks handed over to the Army Corps of Engineers, and we see even more privatization of what were formerly military responsibilities. The fact is, as our latest economic situations demonstrate, the bottom line dollar is the motivating factor in these decisions, not love of service and unit.

There is already a lot of redundancy between the different branches of service, and as we continue to see them streamlined, I believe it will inevitably lead to the consolidation of medical service (with maybe the exception of level one care) be it under the control of DOD or a single military branch. We have already seen the consolidation of training for the services at Fort Sam.

Now, I am Army through and through, but we must not forget that our mission is the saving of lives and caring for the medical needs of all of our soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen, as well as their families and retired service members. this should be our motivational drive, not necessarily a particular branch of service.

As far as Med Officers receiving the same training as line officers....what is the point? In my opinion it would just be a waste of money and man power. In the Army, new Med Officers will receive introductory training in OBLC that they will most likely never use, even though it gives some insight to what their line counterparts experience, in reality, they will not remain proficient in those tasks unless they use and train them on a regular basis... how many nurses/Doctors/dietitians/psychiatrists, etc. do you envision clearing rooms in a hostile environment? Admittedly, there is always the "you never know" factor in today's operational environment, but if it comes to this, then something has gone very wrong. I look forward to OBLC and enjoy some of the 'Hoah training' but realistically, much more than this introduction is a waste of desperately needed funding...imo.

Long story short... I Hold strong ties to the Army, but it is the mission that motivates me. I would feel the same bond with my fellow colleagues in this mission be it as a Army Officer, or as a DOD Medical Officer. (although I must admit that I would be a little concerned with the prospect of lost benefits in such a move away from the Army Officer Corps).

LA40