VCU School of Medicine alum, Army emergency medicine doctor recounts experiences in Iraq

By Malorie Burkett

U.S. Army Capt. David Steinbruner, an emergency medicine physician and a 2001 graduate of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, treated and saved the lives of many military personnel and numerous patients during his time in Baghdad.

He returned to VCU this week to recount some of those experiences during the Department of Emergency Medicine’s grand rounds.

Referring to his service at Ibn Sina Hospital, a combat support hospital, or CASH, for critically wounded soldiers and civilians, Steinbruner acknowledged the training and education he received while a medical student and medical resident at VCU.

“Everything I did clinically, I learned here,” Steinbruner told an audience made up of VCU health care professionals, faculty, staff and members of the Emergency Medicine’s Special Operations combat medic training program.

The Ibn Sina emergency department’s medical crew, which consisted of physicians, nurses, surgeons and medics, had numerous responsibilities, ranging from anesthesia to surgery, to X-rays and labs. However, when he first arrived at the facility in October 2005, Steinbruner began working with what he described as a new medical team.

According to Steinbruner, many on the team had no long-term experience in an emergency department, but the crew quickly adapted and formed a strong bond.

During his presentation, Steinbruner also shared photos and video footage from the hospital, including several graphic images of wounds that the Ibn Sina medical team would typically encounter, such as injuries from car bombs and gun shots.

Steinbruner said that many of the younger medics were affected by what they saw on a daily basis.

“Everybody is affected by this and it’s OK,” he said. “You need some release, some understanding. It’s the people who pretend that this stuff doesn’t bother them that have a hard time dealing with it.”