A force in military medicine A force in military medicine A force in military medicine

Critically injured soldiers and civilians around the world owe a huge debt of gratitude to an invaluable booklet called the Battlefield and Disaster Nursing Pocket Guide. More than 50,000 copies of this guide have been distributed, and it has even been translated into Ukrainian to aid medical personnel during the ongoing war in Ukraine. This pocket guide had a global impact, aiding military personnel in war zones and disaster settings.

The primary author and editor of this lifesaving manual is Elizabeth Bridges, ’91, ’98, a retired Air Force colonel who spent 30 years in the service caring for wounded soldiers, conducting military nursing research, and training critical care nurses who work in the battlefield.

Bridges, who now is a Seattle resident after living all over the world during her Air Force years, retired a little over a year ago from her roles as professor at the UW School of Nursing and as the clinical nurse researcher at UW Medical Center.

She had a long and hugely successful career as a critical care nurse and Air Force research scientist conducting groundbreaking research in military trauma care and civilian critical care. Born and raised in Portland, she developed deep ties to the University of Washington, coming here to earn two graduate degrees in the 1990s (Master of nursing—critical care and a Ph.D.) and serving on the UW nursing school faculty and her role at UW Medical Center, a role in which she supported the advancement of science and bringing the best evidence to the bedside. “My education and experiences as both a student and faculty at UW underpin all of my work,” she says. “I am who I am because of the extraordinary partnerships I have developed at the UW.” Her work, combined with her dedication to mentoring colleagues in critical care, including military and veteran nurses, earned her the 2025 Distinguished Alumni Veteran Award.

A fellow Air Force senior health scientist and nurse researcher describes Bridges as “simply put, a force in military medicine. Her work has directly shaped how we care for critically ill and injured service members, especially in aeromedical evacuation. One of the many impactful things she did was tackle the issue of pressure injuries in wounded warriors, something that had been overlooked for too long. She seamlessly bridges research and practice.”

Over her career, Bridges created one of the largest programs of operational nursing research in the Department of Defense. In honor of this lifetime of work, she received the TriService Nursing Research Program Colonel Regina Aune Perseverance Award, recognition of contribution to military nursing and military nursing scholarship.

One major area of focus of her research was how to best care for military casualties who were airlifted long distances to hospitals. In addition, she is considered a national expert in critical care patient monitoring and septic shock, and she has written the national professional standards for this care. The impact of her research was recognized with the award of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Research Lectureship and the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s Normal Shoemaker Honorary Lecture. She was also selected as the UW School of Nursing Distinguished Alumni and the Washington State Nurses Association Professional Nursing and Health Care Council Nurse Researcher.

Bridges was handpicked to lead the Joint Combat Casualty Research Team in Afghanistan. It embedded scientists in deployed environments to gather real-time trauma data. During her deployment, she also supported the critical care unit at a trauma field hospital, not only caring for patients but also supporting the nurses in this challenging environment.

She drew on this expertise while serving at Air Force headquarters, where she was able to translate her research and clinical expertise into the readiness program for Air Force nursing. In honor of her sustained commitment to the advancing care and leadership, she was awarded the Legion of Merit Medal. This award is given to individuals who distinguish themselves by “exceptional meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding service” to the U.S.

Early on, Bridges, who grew up in a military family (her mother, father and brother served in the Army, another brother served in the Air Force and her brother-in-law in the Marine Corps), knew she was going to join the military and become an intensive care nurse. “My mom was a nurse,” she says. “I never wanted to be anything but a nurse. And I always knew I would go into critical care. I was always fascinated with it.”

A beloved nursing mentor, Bridges is committed to developing the capacity of the health-care system to respond to disasters. She was a leader of both interdisciplinary and nursing-specific disaster training courses in nations including Lebanon, Pakistan, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Estonia, Mauritius, Czech Republic, Hungary, South Africa, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo. During the pandemic, she played a critical leadership role when COVID-19 hit the Puget Sound area in late 2019. She was one of two nurses nationally who were invited to contribute to the “Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines on the Management of Adults with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the ICU,” which were part of the national guidelines for care. During 2020-2021, she served as president of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. In her local and national role, she drew on the unquestionable expertise of the UW health-care community and her military experience, to support education and advocacy for more than half-a-million acute and critical care nurses across the country.

For Bridges, the UW award is a culmination of her career. As she said, “To be selected alongside other UW colleagues who have made such incredible contributions to science and our community is an honor. I think for each of us, at the heart of our passion for our work is our commitment to serve those in our care and to also care for those who serve.” Although retired she remains actively involved in the local and military communities as she continues to develop the next edition of the pocket guide and as a mentor for nurses nationwide.