Job Details

Other Ranks (Non Technical), Other Ranks (Non Technical) (Reserve)

Preventive Medicine soldiers are an integral part of the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps (RAAMC). The RAAMC, along with the Royal Australian Army Dental Corps (RAADC) and the Royal Australian Nursing Corps (RAANC) are responsible to provide aspects of healthcare to support and maintain the health and well being of Army personnel. The Corps is made up of highly trained professionals who are often called upon to work in a variety of operational and non-operational conditions, which their civilian counterparts would find daunting.

Throughout the history of armed conflict, disease and non-battle injury also called Non-Battle Casualties, traditionally accounts for the highest proportion of casualties in military operations. This has been validated in recent Australian Defence Force operations (ADF). ADF personnel must achieve and maintain a high level of health and fitness to enable them to carry out their duties with the drive, determination and efficiency to allow the ADF to fight more effectively than the enemy. The principal causes of personnel loss during military operations are in order:

• Disease;
• Accidental injury; and
• Wounds received in combat activities.

In the area of operations, preventable disease and non-battle injury is the main cause for the loss of personnel, even though, in individual operations battle casualties may be predominate. The problem is aggravated in the tropics and the Middle East by the increased prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases and heat and cold casualties. Through realistic training and command-enforced health discipline, personnel loss caused by DNBI can be minimised.

The Preventive Medicine soldier supports commanders in defeating environmental and occupational health threats and preventing disease and non-battle injury casualties in field and barracks environment. The main role of the Preventive Medicine soldier is to conserve manpower through the study, assessment and control of environmental and occupational health threats.

Main Job Functions:

The Preventive Medicine soldier assists commanders in defeating environmental and occupational health threats preventing disease and non-battle injury casualties by performing the following main job functions:

• assess environmental and occupational health threats by gathering and evaluating information obtained through health intelligence sources, on-site surveys, health surveillance and by considering the impact of the mission and friendly situation;
• determine and implement counter measures to minimise the environmental and occupational health threats including vector/pest control, water quality analysis, food safety, waste management and sanitation;
• assist in conducting health surveillance and use health surveillance data to assess effectiveness of counter measures and to plan investigations and health surveys;
• conduct surveys and perform testing to continue to assess environmental and occupational health threats and counter measures implementation during deployment; and
• provide advice on the full range of preventive medicine issues to medical and non-medical personnel to foster the promotion of health and the prevention casualties.