Section III: Tactical Field Care
Tactical field care is the care rendered to the casualty once the casualty and rescuer are no longer under effective hostile fire. This term also applies to situations in which an injury has occurred on a mission but there has been no hostile fire. This phase of care is characterized by the following:
• The risk from hostile fire has been reduced but still exists.
• The medical equipment available is still limited by what has been brought into the field by mission personnel.
• The time available for treatment is highly variable.
Time prior to evacuation, or re-engagement with hostile forces, can range from a few minutes to many hours.
Medical care during this phase of care is directed toward more in-depth evaluation and treatment of the casualty, focusing on those conditions not addressed during the care under fire phase of treatment.
While the casualty and rescuer are now in a somewhat less hazardous situation, this is still not the setting for a true rapid trauma assessment and treatment.
Evaluation and treatment are still dictated by the tactical situation. In some cases, tactical field care will consist of rapid treatment of wounds with the expectation of a re-engagement with hostile forces at any moment.
The need to avoid undertaking nonessential evaluation and treatment is critical in such cases.
Conversely, care may be rendered once the mission has reached an anticipated evacuation point without pursuit and is awaiting evacuation.
In these circumstances, there may be ample time to render whatever care is feasible in the field.
However, as time to evacuation may vary greatly, medical providers and medics must take care to partition supplies and equipment in the event of prolonged evacuation wait times.
Tactical field care is the care rendered to the casualty once the casualty and rescuer are no longer under effective hostile fire. This term also applies to situations in which an injury has occurred on a mission but there has been no hostile fire. This phase of care is characterized by the following:
• The risk from hostile fire has been reduced but still exists.
• The medical equipment available is still limited by what has been brought into the field by mission personnel.
• The time available for treatment is highly variable.
Time prior to evacuation, or re-engagement with hostile forces, can range from a few minutes to many hours.
Medical care during this phase of care is directed toward more in-depth evaluation and treatment of the casualty, focusing on those conditions not addressed during the care under fire phase of treatment.
While the casualty and rescuer are now in a somewhat less hazardous situation, this is still not the setting for a true rapid trauma assessment and treatment.
Evaluation and treatment are still dictated by the tactical situation. In some cases, tactical field care will consist of rapid treatment of wounds with the expectation of a re-engagement with hostile forces at any moment.
The need to avoid undertaking nonessential evaluation and treatment is critical in such cases.
Conversely, care may be rendered once the mission has reached an anticipated evacuation point without pursuit and is awaiting evacuation.
In these circumstances, there may be ample time to render whatever care is feasible in the field.
However, as time to evacuation may vary greatly, medical providers and medics must take care to partition supplies and equipment in the event of prolonged evacuation wait times.
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