CSTARS Baltimore

 Baltimore Inner Harbor

CSTARS = Center for the Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills.  That is what it means on paper, this is what happens in real life....

Shock Trauma Center in the heart of Baltimore, MD is a world renowned and large "Level 0" trauma facility on the East Coast.  That means that if something has gone terribly wrong or someone needs excellent acute care, they head to Shock Trauma.  I had the privilege of spending 3 weeks here to learn and enhance my skills that I might need for my deployment. 

Rewind to my deployment - I get to spend 6 months in Kuwait this summer at an Army/Navy hospital - with some Air Force in the mix.  Other than that, I know nothing of what I will be doing there - could be sick call, could be in the ER, or even the OR - who knows, but it should be an adventure.

Back to Baltimore...it is Q3.  Every 3 days, you do a 24 hour shift in the trauma resuscitation unit aka the TRU.  Now, the 24 hour shift is relative, because with pre-rounding on the day you start and rounding again on the day you leave, it ends up being closer 30 hours.  Then you crash.  Cool things that I was able to do here: central lines (internal jugular and femoral), chest tubes x 2, and pull out many drains/tubes etc.  I also became ATLS (advance trauma life support) certified.  Not to mention gaining knowledge on how to manage patients in the ICU - something that I never thought I would be responsible for and hopefully will not have to do again. Not that the ICU was a bad experience, but this just helped me realize that the less tubes coming in and out of the patients, the more I like taking care of them.

The best part of CSTARS was the people.  5 doctors and myself got to know each other very well.  I was the youngest and lowest ranking (1Lt) but we all got along great and it is always fun to interact with other Air Force healthcare providers from across the US.  Hopefully I will be able to interact with these individuals in the future.  All of us will be in the desert sometime this summer, so you never know.

This was right across the street from our hotel - The ever luxurious Holiday Inn.  Very nice to look at, but unfortunately, the bell tower was part of the fire department, so sirens at all hours day and night were not a rare occurrance.

Touring Inner Harbor on my day off on an old submarine.  Reminded me of why I didn't join the Navy!

Back of the same sub in the harbor.  There were a series of 4 ships to tour.  All were free with my military ID.

 Inner Harbor Lighthouse

 Field exercise.  Capt (Dr.) Misha Harrell in the center taking charge of the patient.

 Striking a pose at the field exercise.

 Misha and I at the Orioles/Yankees game at Camden Yards.  She was a great roommate.

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Shock Trauma - known around the world for its infamous pink scrubs.  I may have kept a pair just for fun.