From 7th January to 24th March, the Technical-Application Course for eight newly graduated medical officers from the Air Force Academy took place at the Institute of Specialisation and Training in Aerospace and Aviation Medicine in Rome. The course, organised under the auspices of the Health Service of the Logistics Command of the Italian Air Force, it offered a completely revamped educational pathway, designed to prepare attendees for operational deployment within Armed Forces healthcare facilities, tackling the daily challenges of military aviation medicine with a highly practical and experiential approach.
Traditional training in key sectors such as preventive medicine, forensic medicine, and the management of health emergencies and the approach to mass casualty incidents—which require rapid and effective decision-making skills in high-intensity situations—has been supplemented by new learning modules. The educational implementation resulting from the demands dictated by the new geostrategic context has brought about a renewed approach to health defence. CBRNe, which concerns the management of health emergencies in scenarios contaminated by chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear agents, with the acquisition of specific skills in this field thanks to collaboration with the COMSEV Rome Force Protection Group, which allows Medical Officers to operate in extremely complex and hazardous environments, and the course for the transport of contagious patients in high-level biocontainment, using the valuable experience gained by the Italian Air Force during the recent pandemic.
Important innovations have also been introduced in the more specific sector of the Course, with the in-depth study of aerospace medicine, a highly specialised field that prepares doctors to manage pathologies and health issues related to flight crews, where the physical and psychological conditions of operators are subjected to considerable stress. Alongside traditional training, which sees aviation doctors training alongside civilian doctors who are perfecting their training as Aeromedical Examiners under the aegis of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC), a module specifically dedicated to has been added this year Space Medicine, with the participation of astronauts, figures from the academic world and the Italian Space Agency, and a section dedicated to aeromedical evacuation planning (PECC, providing Medical Officers with the necessary skills to operate in highly complex scenarios, such as in-flight rescue operations or in extreme environments.
The entire training course is designed in compliance with the IGESAN Directive 001, which establishes guidelines for joint-force health training, ensuring that Medical Officers are prepared to respond to the needs of an ever-evolving military healthcare system.
The I.P.A.M.A.S., named since 2018 in memory of Lieutenant Francesco Paolo Remotti, an Italian Air Force medical officer killed in the Kindu massacre on 11 November 1961, is the Armed Force body responsible for secondary training, instruction and professional updating in the healthcare field for all Italian Air Force personnel. It reports directly to the Logistics Command Health Service, under whose aegis all educational activities are conducted. The Institute is also the sole Armed Force provider accredited by the National Agency for Regional Healthcare Services (Agenas) of the Ministry of Health for Continuing Medical Education (CME) activities. In addition to training Military Rescuers and Biocontainment Operators, the Institute carries out many other training activities, including the Basic Course in Aerospace Medicine, which is also open to medical officers from other Armed Forces and State Armed Corps, as well as civilians, accredited by ENAC and recognised as an essential prerequisite for obtaining the qualification of Aeromedical Examiner (AME).
