Training Pipeline

9 answers we'd like to have regarding Maj Hasan and the Fort Hood shootings:

1. Reports described Hasan as a non-traditional medical student who had experience as prior enlisted. Were his academic credentials appropriate for USUHS?
2. Some reports suggested Hasan struggled academically at USUHS during medical school. If this was the case why was he allowed to graduate and why was he allowed to go straight into a residency without a GMO tour?
3. A very negative evaluation authored by Hasan's psychiatry residency program director was published by a variety of news outlets. Why was he allowed to graduate residency?

From 10 USC 2122:

(b) The Secretary of Defense may require, as part of the agreement under subsection (a)(2), that a person must agree to accept, if offered, residency training in a health profession skill which has been designated by the Secretary as a critically needed wartime skill.

Comment: The law appears to read that the military could force a physician into a residency for a "critically needed wartime skill". There is no information available that suggest such a situation had occurred or had been considered.

from the we'll-do-anything-but-fix-the-underlying-problems dept.

The AP is reporting that the DoD is now recruiting foreign citizens to become medical officers:

WASHINGTON – Struggling to find enough doctors, nurses and linguists for the war effort, the Pentagon will temporarily recruit foreigners who have been living in the United States on student and work visas, or with refugee or political asylum status.

In the civilian world, internship and residency are contiguous. Medical students accepted for an internal medicine position complete an internship followed by two more years of uninterrupted training. In the military graduate medical education system, interns must apply for post-graduate year 2 (PGY2) positions. Interns not picked up for residency positions are utilized as "general medical officers". What % of Navy medicine interns are sent out as GMOs?

bouspret writes:

Does anyone know how the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will affect prior service officers on HPSP? The way I read it, it appears that I would receive my base pay during my entire medical school. It's less than USUHS, because I wouldn't get BAH, or BAS. Someone said it's only for the 45 days actice duty a year, but I can't find that in the language of the law for title 10 US code: