Background
Medics assigned to combat units have a notable paucity of trauma experience. Our goal
was to provide intense trauma refresher training for the conventional combat medic
to better prepare them for combat casualty care in the War on Terror.
Materials and methods
Our Tactical Combat Casualty Care Course (TC3) consisted of the following five phases:
(1) One and one-half-day didactic session; (2) Half-day simulation portion with interactive
human surgical simulators for anatomical correlation of procedures and team building;
(3) Half-day of case presentations and triage scenarios from Iraq/Afghanistan and
associated skills stations; (4) Half-day live tissue lab where procedures were performed
on live anesthetized animals in a controlled environment; and (5) One-day field phase
where live anesthetized animals and surgical simulators were combined in a real-time,
field-training event to simulate realistic combat injuries, evacuation problems, and
mass casualty scenarios. Data collection consisted of surveys, pre- and posttests,
and after-action comments.
Results
A total of 1317 personnel participated in TC3 from October 2003 through May 2005.
Over the overlapping study period from December 2004 to April 2005, 327 soldiers participated
in the formal five-phase course. Three hundred four (94%) students were combat medics
who were preparing for combat operations in Iraq or Afghanistan. Of those completing
the training, 97% indicated their confidence and ability to treat combat casualties
were markedly improved. Moreover, of those 140 medics who took the course and deployed
to Iraq for 1 year, 99% indicated that the principles taught in the TC3 course helped
with battlefield management of injured casualties during their deployment.
Conclusion
The hybrid training model is an effective method for training medical personnel to
deal with modern battle injuries. This course increases the knowledge and confidence
of combat medics deploying and fighting the Global War on Terrorism.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 02, 2007
Received:
January 17,
2006
Footnotes
2The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense of the U.S. Government.
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
