#86 – Combat Trauma Anesthesia with Dustin Degman, MSN, CRNA – Part 1

What’s up yall this is Jon Lowrance with Anesthesia Guidebook.  I am so pumped to bring you this next series of 3 episodes!   This is episode 86 and it kicks off a three-part series with Dustin Degman, a CRNA formerly with the United States Army on combat trauma anesthesia.   In this first episode, we discuss Dustin’s experience in Afghanistan serving at a forward operating base in Paktika Province in 2012 to 2013.  We talk about what makes up forward surgical teams and the role of CRNAs as the sole anesthesia provider on these teams. In part two, we discuss the principles of damage control resuscitation and the context of operating in a combat zone. In part three, we talk about the path to becoming a military CRNA and the importance of support our troops.   This series was originally recorded in early 2015, just a year or so after Dustin had returned from Afghanistan and while the war there was still raging.  At the time, I was completing my anesthesia training at Western Carolina University and working on launching From the Head of the Bed… the podcast the preceded Anesthesia Guidebook.  Dustin was one of my professors and clinical faculty at WCU and was kind enough to volunteer his time for these interviews back then.  The reason I’m bringing them forward here is that they’re chock full of wildly fantastic details on the experience of a forward-deployed military anesthesia provider and the principles of trauma anesthesia, which are absolutely relevant today. Dustin served with the Unites States Air Force from 1998 – 2002 as a critical care Registered Nurse.  He was honorably discharged and went on to complete his anesthesia training outside of the military.  In 2010, he re-enlisted with the Army Reserves as a CRNA and was deployed in November 2012 to Forward Operating Base Orgun-E in Paktika Province, Afghanistan where he was the sole anesthesia provider on a forward surgical team providing damage control resuscitation to injured soldiers.  Most recently, Dustin serves as the chief CRNA at PeaceHealth’s Peace Harbor Medical Center in Florence, Oregon.  In 2021, Dustin was awarded the PeaceHealth Mission & Values award and the organization put together an incredible video tribute to Dustin.  Degman is the real deal… he was the real deal a decade ago when he was serving in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, which he talks about in these next 3 episodes and he’s still the real deal as he serves as a CRNA with Peace Harbor Medical Center out on the coast of Oregon. I think you’re going to really enjoy hearing from Dustin on combat trauma anesthesia and with that, let’s get to the show! To close each of these 3 episodes out, I’d like to encourage you to make a donation to the Pat Tillman Foundation in honor of Army Ranger Pat Tillman who was killed in Afghanistan in 2004.  The Pat Tillman Foundation awards academic scholarships to military service members, veterans and their spouses.  Dustin Degman identified this as one of the several service organizations that he believes in and encourages you to give to either the Pat Tillman Foundation or an organization you connect with.  If we each give $10-20, our collective impacts will make a huge difference. Resources: Care behind the battlefield Dustin Degman was featured in Asheville’s Mountain Express in 2013.