A Proposed Guideline...

A Proposed Guideline for Tactical Medical Self-Care in the Civilian Environment:

by Morgan Atwood, © Not For Redistribution w/o Permission & Attribution

Overview:

In environments involving violent use of firearms, knives, and other weapons capable of inflicting life threatening penetrating trauma (which we might call Tactical Environments for lack of a better term), there exists a need for medical management guidelines specifically addressing the unique concerns of said environment. The military and police communities have addressed this with adoption of the military generated Tactical Combat Casualty Care guidelines. Recognition of the risk of injury in the tactical environment, and the need for improved, tactically sound, care methods for those engaged in violent encounters has slowly begun seeping into the civilian context of armed/self-protection minded citizens. What information exists, however, is generally gleaned from the documents and training created around the military/police contextual model, which differs significantly from that of the armed citizen engaged in self defense.
The civilian environment lacks the protections afforded by operating in small units which can provide suppressive fire to protect dedicated medics, and members of which generally wear body armor and protective equipment. Injury sustained in the civilian environment must be self stabilized, for lack of better options, until professional care arrives. The safety and security of the environment in which the care is delivered is also up to the individual most likely suffering the injury. The armed citizen is triple-tasked to negate active threats, use cover and effective fire (not volume) to secure themselves, and provide their own care for stabilization of a life threatening injury in the “Platinum 10-minutes” after it occurs. This demand for self-care is only heightened by the inevitable delay in arrival of emergency medical services, given response times and the need for police to declare a scene secured prior to EMS entering.

Meeting the needs of medical care in civilian engagements can be accomplished via...

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