SMART (Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Team) Centers: An Empirical Analysis

摘要

In an era of finite health care resources, increased military operational tempo, and smaller expeditionary fighting forces, the US Navy has developed SMART (Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Team) Center. SMART Centers address the multitude of muscular skeletal injuries encountered at Recruit Training Commands and Marine Corps Installations by offering an alternative to traditional Orthopedic Services. SMART Centers provide open access and one-stop shopping to multidisciplinary muscular skeletal services. This study attempts to use predictor (independent) variables such as access, surgical rates, and return to duty status to determine if there are differences between the SMART Center and the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Clinics medical evaluation board reports (MEBRs). This study did not find the type of clinic to be a predictor of MEBRs, although this study discovered several significant subsequent findings associating the SMART Center with enhanced clinical outcomes over the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Clinics.