Dilemma Over Medical Command and Control

<p>If asked what the command surgeon does most Army officers would respond Advises the commander on the health of the command. When asked what a medical unit commander does the response will be Directs the execution of healthcare. These answers typify the line and staff organizational model where the line is directly involved in the execution of a task and the staff advises and assists the line. However the command surgeon presents a dilemma to this model in that the command surgeon actually performs line and staff functions. An attempt to solve this dilemma is playing out in Army Transformation as the Army and the Army Medical Department (AMEDD) leadership struggle with how to flatten medical command and control structures. The AMEDD maintains that it needs four regionally focused medical commands in the form of a Medical Command (Deployment Support) [MEDCOM(DS)] at the Army Service Component Command (ASCC) level. At this same level each regionally focused ASCC commander has a command surgeon with a staff section that appears to serve the same function as the medical command. The question that needs to be answered is is there a difference between the ASCC Command Surgeon's Division and the MEDCOM(DS)? Applying the line and staff model to the command surgeon shows what makes this staff position special and grants the command surgeon an informal authority that is just short of command authority. A review of medical doctrine shows that the misunderstanding of the command surgeon's informal authority has led to the creation of a theater level medical headquarters that mirrors the ASCC Command Surgeon's Division. However the command authority of this medical headquarters comes into conflict with the ASCC command surgeon's responsibility to provide technical supervision over medical assets and the informal authority given to him by the ASCC commander. As seen in the evolution of medical command and control during Vietnam having two different organ</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>