AKIPRESS.COM - The second iteration of Regional Health Command-Pacific's medical logistics and nursing subject matter expert exchange (SMEE) took place at the Military Medical Center of Mongolia, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia last week, the United States Army said. 

Nurses and bio-medical equipment technicians (BMET) from RHC-P's Tripler Army Medical Center (Tripler), the 18th MEDCOM (Deployment Support), as well as the U.S. Air Force worked alongside the hosts and colleagues from the Mongolian Armed Forces, directly supporting the region's objectives of providing medically ready forces while conducting health service support.

Thirty years ago, the United States and Mongolia established bilateral relations and this SMEE is now a part of that history. This bilateral exchange demonstrates the continuing U.S. commitment in the region, influencing the understanding and progress that build partner defense capacity.

"Air Force participation in exchanges such as the SMEE in Mongolia is one part of the overall U.S. Pacific Command Theater Security Cooperation plan. The two-part goal includes gaining a better understanding of each other's nursing practice and standards while assessing the opportunity for future cooperation and engagement," explains Lt. Col. Steven Lehr, commander, 36th Medical Operations Squadron, Anderson AFB, Guam.

Maj. Jason Marquart, nursing director and deputy commander Medical Services at Tripler explained that the first exchange that took place in June provided the needs assessment based on training requested. It also paved the way to understanding how to best structure and build the team at the hospital.

"During the second visit, the highlight was seeing the senior head nurses come back in the room with the junior nurses, engage with them and teach them to standard using didactic and hands-on learning techniques," stated Marquart. "This team atmosphere allowed the senior nurses to become the educators while our team became facilitators."