• The $80,000 federal grant will be used to fund military doctors to provide trauma care at the academic medical center
• The Mission Zero program provides funding to ensure medical readiness by integrating military care providers into civilian trauma centers

Tampa General Hospital (TGH) announced it is launching a Military Civilian Partnership for the Trauma Readiness Grant, also known as the Mission Zero program, to fill a critical need for people suffering from serious injuries

Awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the $80,000 federal grant will be used to fund military doctors to provide trauma care at the academic medical center.

“This is a win for everyone, especially the patient,” said Dr. Geoffrey Douglas, assistant professor in the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “As a former U.S. Air Force general surgeon, I had the privilege of participating in military-civilian partnerships while on active duty. Our patients benefited from the knowledge we brought back from the battlefield and as surgeons we were able to maintain our skills between deployments. Civilian trauma centers provide a unique environment for military surgeons to maintain deployment readiness because of the higher acuity and larger volume than they would see at most military treatment facilities in the U.S.”

TGH said in a news release the goal of Mission Zero is to support and build military-civilian partnerships that will improve the nation’s response to public health and medical emergencies. At the same time, it will provide combat casualty doctors and nurses with additional experience in treating severely injured trauma patients. The grant will also defray the administrative costs that TGH incurs and will be used to train and integrate military trauma care providers into the hospital.

“It’s another part of Tampa General’s ongoing effort to be among the top hospitals in the country,” said Michele Moran, senior director of Emergency Services at Tampa General. “This provides us the best of both military and civilian care, and in one place. Trauma patients will benefit from the convergence of their expertise.”

Additionally, the grant will help advance Tampa General’s efforts as West Central Florida’s only American College of Surgeons-verified Level I Trauma Center and a regional tertiary academic medical safety net hospital. Tampa General also is the primary teaching affiliate of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and an American Burn Association-verified burn center.

In 2021, Tampa General treated nearly 3,000 trauma patients, including 747 who were transferred from other facilities within its trauma system and required a higher level of specialized care.

Tampa General is designated by the Florida Department of Health Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program. As a tertiary/quintenary academic medical center with more than 1,700 medical staff members, TGH offers military personnel access to world-class physicians in every specialty and specialized training, including that at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), a modern facility housing high-fidelity simulators, mannequins, cadaver, and an animated training curriculum.

In 2016, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released a report showing that one in four military trauma deaths and one in five civilian trauma deaths could be prevented if advances in trauma care reach all injured patients. The report concluded that military and civilian integration is critical to saving lives both on the battlefield and at home, preserving the hard-won lessons of war, and maintaining the nation’s readiness and homeland security.

“By embedding active-duty surgeons within our trauma center, we can prepare military personnel for deployment and strengthen our military-civilian partnerships,” said Dr. Thomas Herron, assistant professor in the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and medical director of Trauma, Tampa General. “It’s our duty to provide a comprehensive training experience for our military, and an honor to continue our support through the Mission Zero grant.”