Oregon Public Broadcasting

Six years into the Iraq War, U.S. military personnel are still being wounded. 

Just yesterday in Baqouba, a suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi army uniform struck a U.S. military delegation.  At least eight American soldiers were injured. 

You could call this war -- or any war, for that matter -- one big, intense class in trauma medicine.  And that experience can sometimes lead to advances in medical care here in the states.

To find out what the Iraq War has taught us about caring for critically-injured patients, we turn to Dr. Marty Schreiber.  He’s the chief of trauma and surgical critical care at Oregon Health and Science University.

He’s also a lieutenant colonel is in the Army Reserve, and was in Iraq four years ago.  He says the war has taught emergency physicians a lot about how to manage ALL injured patients.