Medical professionals including surgeons, nurses, dentists, veterinarians and pharmacists from across NATO met in Stavanger for the CIOMR Summer Congress. The objectives of CIOMR are to study and discuss subjects which are of military medical importance and to promote effective cooperation with the Regular Forces’ Medical Services by providing information and feedback through its civilian medical expertise.

The workshops in Norway enabled participants to share best practice and delegates were able to discuss new technologies to improve medical care in theatre. The ‘free paper’ sessions had considerable continuing military medical educational value and spanned a range of subjects. Highlights included field hospital dentistry and radiology, study and analysis of the physical and mental health problems affecting mobilised reservists and the rapid deployment of a surgical unit in a natural disaster zone based on Haiti in January 2010.

Col Charles Cox, 2 Medical Brigade, gave a presentation entitled ‘bringing it all back home – trauma lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan’. Col Cox and his colleagues from the Operational Medicine Committee also helped judged the Military Competition’s ‘combat casualty care’ event.

CIOMR meets twice a year, in conjunction with CIOR’s Summer Congress and Mid Winter Meeting. At the Summer Congress in Warsaw, Poland in August 2011, CIOMR will look at the prevention and treatment of combat stress. For more information, see www.ciomr.org

If you are a Medical Officer in the Reserve Forces and would like to join CIOMR, contact the UKRFA Secretariat on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it