Trauma Kit

[Chuckman]

I went through and certified as a Wilderness First Responser (WFR) and highly recommend it. What's different is that you focus on treatment and care vs stabilize and transport, which is the urban model, when a hospital or other medical care facility is available. "You're not getting out soon and no one is coming to help." is the mantra. You're on your own.
But the commitment is big, 90hrs in 8 days. (I think EMT is 200hrs.) I did mine with National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Sylva. The instructor is also a lead EMT/Paramedic instructor. It's immersive, you live it all week. You're hiking out, wading into streams to extract victims, working in the dark by headlamp, working with moulaged victims who will throw up on you, screaming in your face, etc. It's great!
There is a 3 day short course, but you don't get the WFR certification.
Not much about penetrating combat wounds though. I took a TCCC class for that. I hear TCCC is now only available to EMT level providers or above.

I love the WFR stuff, austere medicine. I wish I could have parlayed THAT into a fulltime job.

RE: TCCC. A lot of people see it as the magic bullet of trauma. It really isn't. It's really Stop the Bleed with tactics and getting off the X. The fact that the military gave it over to NAEMT to administer in the civilian sector, who require you to be an EMT to take it, is 100% retarded and ludicrous. They teach it in boot camp/basic, to everyone. The workaround is, I can teach TCCC. I just can't give you a shiny little card to go with it like NAEMT (even in the military, it's just a note in your record). A lot of people can teach TCCC, the standards/curriculum is not secret.

 

[georgel]

I love the WFR stuff, austere medicine. I wish I could have parlayed THAT into a fulltime job.

RE: TCCC. A lot of people see it as the magic bullet of trauma. It really isn't. It's really Stop the Bleed with tactics and getting off the X. The fact that the military gave it over to NAEMT to administer in the civilian sector, who require you to be an EMT to take it, is 100% retarded and ludicrous. They teach it in boot camp/basic, to everyone. The workaround is, I can teach TCCC. I just can't give you a shiny little card to go with it like NAEMT (even in the military, it's just a note in your record). A lot of people can teach TCCC, the standards/curriculum is not secret.

That's a good way to describe it, a Stop the Bleed without getting shot. The main things I got out of it were, how much you have to pack in combat guaze and cool extraction methods. I even have one of those ladder drag straps.
I found the whole TCCC curriculum online somewhere. The cool thing was the iconic pictures of the Battle of Fallujah and what not to do. I met a physician who was there, when those pics were taken, during a lecture on austere medicine at Chapel Hill medical school.

Many WFR's end up doing expedition/adventure type stuff as the med guy. That was part of the training, get everyone's med history and carry their backup meds.

 

[Chuckman]

That's a good way to describe it, a Stop the Bleed without getting shot. The main things I got out of it were, how much you have to pack in combat guaze and cool extraction methods. I even have one of those ladder drag straps.
I found the whole TCCC curriculum online somewhere. The cool thing was the iconic pictures of the Battle of Fallujah and what not to do. I met a physician who was there, when those pics were taken, during a lecture on austere medicine at Chapel Hill medical school.

Many WFR's end up doing expedition/adventure type stuff as the med guy. That was part of the training, get everyone's med history and carry their backup meds.

Yeah, I know a little about Fallujah. I know the pics of which you speak, but that wasn't my unit. They make me sad every time I see them.

Had I to do it all over again, I would probably have tried to got he PJ route because of the focus on austere medicine and rescue. I went to the Marine's mountain medicine and mountain rescue courses in California, which were excellent, but really, its pararescue's domain.

If you want more wilderness med info, look up my friend Seth Hawkins. He's an EM doc in the western part of the state, but huge in that field, has published quite a bit.

 

[georgel]

Yeah, I know a little about Fallujah. I know the pics of which you speak, but that wasn't my unit. They make me sad every time I see them.

Had I to do it all over again, I would probably have tried to got he PJ route because of the focus on austere medicine and rescue. I went to the Marine's mountain medicine and mountain rescue courses in California, which were excellent, but really, its pararescue's domain.

If you want more wilderness med info, look up my friend Seth Hawkins. He's an EM doc in the western part of the state, but huge in that field, has published quite a bit.

That name sounds very familiar. Looked him up. He founded The Appalachian Center for Wilderness Medicine (ACWM) which apparently has courses. Going to look into that.

This is the doc I met...


I love austere medicine. It's like another branch of medicine with specialized physicians and organizations studying it. With Seth Hawkins being one of them.

 

[Chuckman]

@georgel , Dr. Jadick is pretty well known because of that book. Interesting isn't it that a urologist was a battalion surgeon (in fact, almost any specialty can be a batt 'surgeon'). Also a DO and not a MD (also common). I wish more docs would publish like this. His story is compelling, but not unique. Although the Forward Resuscitation Surgical (FRSS) team started around 2003, he did a few things differently that were implemented in other teams that improved outcomes.

Seth is a great guy, has his fingers in all sorts of pies. If you want to reach out direct, let me know.

 

[georgel]

Dr. Jadick was a pretty stand up guy to talk to.

@Chuckman
Thanks for the offer. I'd love to reach out to your buddy Seth. Most of the web stuff looks dormant since 2013.

However, these days, "The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

I'm not sure what I could do with it right now.