Joint Base Andrews medical technician cares for deployed troops in Kandahar

Published Aug. 20, 2010
By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
Air Mobility Command Public Affairs

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Senior Airman Rodrigo Resendiz is a medical technician assigned to the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing clinic at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.

Airman Resendiz is deployed from the 779th Medical Operations Squadron at Joint Base Andrews, Md. As a medical technician with the 455th AEW, Airman Resendiz is responsible for supporting the medical care needs for all deployed Airmen at Kandahar.

To do his deployed job, Airman Resendiz plans, provides and evaluates routine patient care and treatment of beneficiaries to include flying and special operational duty personnel, his official Air Force job description for a medical technician shows. He helps organize the medical environment, performs and directs support activities in-patient care situations. As part of the nursing team, he also utilizes the nursing process to provide care for the beneficiaries and acts as a primary care management team leader or member.

Medical technicians like Airman Resendiz are also trained to monitor and record physiological measurements and orient new patients to the hospital environment, the job description states. They also observe, report and record observations in patient progress notes and team conference and perform portions of medical treatment, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.

Medical technicians are also able to identify patient problems and assist in developing and evaluating patient care plan. They can prepare and administer medications under nurse or physician supervision and they adhere to infection control procedures including use of personal protective equipment.

In the deployed environment, medical technicians like Airman Resendiz serve as front line preventionists who identify potential health risks and provide preventive counseling, the job description states. They can perform paraprofessional portions of preventative health assessments and physical examinations.

Furthermore, medical technicians provide required basic life support training, provide medical training to include agencies and personnel other than medical, and render medical treatment and emergency care.

The full list of a medical technician's capabilities and training are long, the job description shows. To keep up with the latest information, medical technicians also have to maintain a long list of mandatory job knowledge to include medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, nursing theory, techniques and procedures, team nursing, patient needs and emergency medical treatment to include cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They also have to know medical ethics and legal aspects, prescribed drugs and their administration, operating and maintaining therapeutic equipment, military hygiene and sanitation, risk management, contingency operations, disaster preparedness and chemical warfare, and transportation of sick and wounded.

According to the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing Web site, the wing provides a "persistent and powerful airpower presence" in the Afghanistan area of operations. 451st AEW Airmen provide "world-class tactical airlift, close air support, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, command and control, airborne datalink, combat search and rescue, casualty evacuation and aeromedical evacuation capabilities whenever and wherever needed."