Greetings from NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan/Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan (NTM-A/CSTC-A) Command Surgeon Combat Medics. Let me begin by saying what an honor and privilege it has been for me to serve as NTM-A/CSTC-A Command Surgeon. In almost one year here, I have been inspired by the fabulous work of many hardworking, highly motivated, and creative individuals. I look forward to completing my assignment here building on the many successes this unit has had in recent years.
As we have moved forward, we focused on a couple conceptual items. First, everything that we do should be with the intent of developing enduring Afghan capability of their healthcare system. To that end, I encourage all Medical Training Advisory Group (MTAG) personnel to think differently about how we approach our projects and day-to-day efforts. Specifically, when planning your efforts, think in terms of outcomes rather than activities. Activities are things like teaching X number of classes, acquiring $X million of equipment and supplies, etc., which are all absolutely necessary for our training mission success. Those things make us feel good and look good on a performance report, but often do not translate into sustained changes in behavior. We must focus instead on enduring positive outcomes (e.g., decreasing died of wounds rates, decreasing nosocomial infection rates, increasing quality life expectancy, etc) that are final measures of benefit to patients. That is why we are military medics, to enhance the health of the fighting force and society as a whole. And in the end, remember that success for us will be defined as maintenance of those improved systems and outcome measures years AFTER each of us leaves this country.Second, consider this pearl of wisdom: It is better to understand that be understood. When you are frustrated because a mentoring interaction or services encounter is not going your way, try to understand the encounter from the other party’s perspective: What motivates them? What are their capabilities and limitations? Why should the other person care at all about what matters to me? How are they receiving my message? Is there any way I could change my approach such that they might see my position (assuming I have a reasonable, unselfish position) as being in their best interest as well. My experience is that this approach will almost always result in my changing my approach before the other individual changes theirs….yet we can both come to an arrangement that benefits us both. One might call this approach “enlightened self-interest.” Think about it.
I look forward to blogging with you all. Our mission is to develop enduring Afghan-led and owned healthcare systems that improve the health of all their beneficiaries. Any constructive dialogue that supports that effort will be greatly appreciated. Tashakoor!
