Regimental Surgeon: Preventive Medicine in the Combat Theatre
Program Overview
Regimental Surgeon is an interactive multimedia program that strives to promote the development
of new knowledge and attitudes through an exercise of reflective thinking and practice in a
multimedia "virtual world." It teaches through experience by putting the learner "on the job,"
in this case as Regimental Surgeon responsible for the health of 3,000+ men in a combat zone.
The user can explore, discover facts, and formulate rules and principles for professional actions,
much as one would in real life. The program places the learner within the context of an
operational situation with global consequences, whose evolution and outcome depend on the
decisions made by the learner. Numerous themes are developed simultaneously, any of which can
be developed and emphasized in discussions outside the context of the program itself.
The program has the following objective: given a hypothetical combat scenario involving U.S.
military forces, to provide, through simulation, experiences which will allow the learner to
develop knowledge and skills needed to function as a staff medical officer. In the process,
the learner is challenged to
evaluate and define the medical threat confronting personnel in his unit.
identify, plan, and implement the preventive medicine countermeasures which can reduce risk.
communicate the urgency of those countermeasures to key commanders.
There are ten other facilitating objectives dealing with basic organizational, interpersonal,
and medical aspects of functioning as a staff officer.
The program is organized somewhat as an 'Adventure' computer game, where various locations can
be visited. In such a game, the locations can contain objects and/or characters with which
limited interactions can occur. In "Regimental Surgeon" the locations are various elements
and units of the Regiment (Headquarters and the three Battalions), Division Headquarters,
and medical support units (hospitals); the "treasures" are facts which can be obtained from
a variety of sources in a variety of ways: epidemiologic surveys, reading documents, questioning
individuals, looking at blood smears. The learner is required to assemble the facts he's
acquired, draw conclusions, and, based on these, inform and make recommendations. Characters
can facilitate or obstruct this process, or act as mentors, depending on the learner's actions
as he transverses the program.
Regimental Surgeon README file
Last updated March 9, 2001
INSTALLING REGIMENTAL SURGEON:
These installation instructions are for the CD-ROM version of
the program.
Minimum System Requirements:
The recommended specifications are:
- Operating System: Windows 95/98, NT 4.x, or 2000
- Processor: Pentium II, 300Mhz or better
- RAM: 128 MB or higher
- 40 MB free hard disk space
- Video: 2 MB or more Video RAM
- Internet Explorer 4.0 or greater, with 128-bit encryption
Installing from CD:
If you have a Regimental Surgeon CD, insert it into your CDROM drive, select "Run..." under your Windows Start Menu, then type
"D:\setup.exe", substituting the drive letter for your CDROM drive.
RUNNING REGIMENTAL SURGEON:
Begin Regimental Surgeon by selecting the "Regimental Surgeon" shortcut from the "Regimental Surgeon" folder of your Windows Start Menu.
Soon, you will be able to download and run this program through our DLS (Distance Learning System) website, but for now, the only way
to run it is with a CD-ROM.
YOU SHOULD ALWAYS RUN REGIMENTAL SURGEON IN 24-BIT COLOR.
This setting is available in the "Settings" tab of the Windows
Desktop Control Panel. Running in less than 24-bit color can cause
serious display problems. Also, the program will run full-screen only
when your Desktop size is 640x480 pixels, which you can change in the
same place as the color depth.
KEY COMMANDS:
Here's a list of some key-commands available while you are
using the program:
Keystroke: Command:
---------- ---------------------------------------
q or ESC Terminates an audio sequence
+ Advances the clock one hour
CTRL-. Terminates the program without saving
To skip a video sequence, mouse-click in the upper-left
quadrant of the screen.
