Knowledge Skills and Abilities (KSA's)
(This page is a work in process and information provided is not authoritative.)
Thanks to CAPT Joel Schofer who posted much of this on his blog.
KSAs are Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities that Naval personnel are supposed to possess in order to do their jobs well.
In order to ensure Naval medical personnel meet and exceed their operationally-focused KSAs, Navy Medicine is developing standardized enterprise-wide Naval Medical Readiness Criteria (NMRC) in support of readiness performance metrics. The KSAs are divided into categories, as above.
The Navy Surgeon General signed a memo in July 2020 which established the NMRCs. It is well worth the read, and can be downloaded here:
The memo references two enclosures listing Critical Wartime Specialties. One has to do with Combat Casualty Care Teams, and the other with Non-Combat Casualty Care Teams. They are also worth a read, and can be downloaded below:
Note that they are still works in process. Each of the Medical Specialties represented has each of the three Categories (as above) and Skill Sets within each. Those Skill Sets can be Knowledge or Performance items. Some have requisite training courses, and some have a frequency at which the training should be renewed. They also list the Authoritative Data System that the training is tracked in. Those are important, as it is intended that those data systems will then feed a "dashboard" that can be used to monitor the training at various levels such as corps, command, or individual.
The official list of KSAs is in development for Navy PAs.
After looking at a few of the available published lists (such as Medical Corps) a basic list of Skill Sets might include some of the items below.
Click each of the categories below for its official description, along with a non-official list of what might be included.
Category 1: Competence as a Physician Assistant
Category 1 – Core Practice/Clinical Currency – Fundamental training and skills, usually obtained through medical education and maintained through Medical Treatment Facility (MTF) experience and/or partnerships. This category of requirements links to the attainment of core practice, clinical currency, and KSA Threshold for medical personnel.
Possible list items:
- PA Certification
- Aeromedical PA
- EM PA
- GenSurg PA
- Ortho PA
Category 2: Competence in military operational medicine
Category 2 – Expeditionary Skills for Readiness/Readiness Currency – Combat Specialty Knowledge – Individual skills specific to operating in an expeditionary environment. Category 2 Readiness Criteria ensures transference of Category 1 skills to the expeditionary environment, including patient care during combat operations. Category 2 Readiness Criteria also includes general platform training requirements for an individual specialty across the potential operating environment to which the individual would be assigned. This category of requirements links to the attainment of readiness currency.
Possible list items:
- Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS)
- Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS/ALS)
- Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS)
- Advance Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO or ECO)
- Combat Casualty Care (C4, TCCC, TCMC)
- Tropical Medicine Course or Global Medicine Course
- Combat Stress Casualties Course
- Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE, MCBC, MEIR, etc)
- Emercengy War Surgery (EWS)
- Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma (ASSET)
- Basic Endovascular Skills for Trauma (BEST, REBOA course)
- Combat Extremity Surgery Course (CES)
- Fundamentals of Critical Care Support (FCCS)
- Navy Trauma Training Course (NTTC)
- Plans, Operations, and Medical Intelligence Course (POMI)
Category 3: Competence in the operational platform each PA is assigned to
Category 3 – Platform Training for Readiness – Readiness Proficiency/Operational Platform – Team/Unit-level training specific to a platform or unit to which a Service member is assigned. This category of requirements links to the attainment of readiness proficiency and, as such, joint interoperability.
Possible list items:
- Expeditionary Medical Facilities (EMF) Build Team Training
- Expeditionary Medical Facilities (EMF) Operational Readiness Exercise (ORE)
Again, this is not authoritative, not official, just my guess. When the KSAs for Navy PAs are developed and promulgated officially, we will update here so that PAs can reference and ensure they are aligning their training to such. In the meantime, we welcome any input.
