Tactical Combat Casualty Care for Medical Personnel

August 2018
(Based on TCCC-MP Guidelines 180801)

Introduction to TCCC
Disclaimer

“The opinions or assertions contained herein are the

private views of the authors and are not to be construed as
official or as reflecting the views of the Departments of the
Army, Air Force, Navy or the Department of Defense.”

- There are no conflict of interest disclosures .

Learning Objectives

• IDENTIFY the three objectives of TCCC.

• DESCRIBE the key factors influencing
combat casualty care.
• IDENTIFY the evidence that documents the
lifesaving impact of TCCC use.
• DESCRIBE the three phases of care in
TCCC.
• IDENTIFY the most common causes of
preventable death among combat casualties.
TCCC
What is TCCC and Why Do I Need to
Learn about it??

Military units that have trained all of their members in TCCC

have documented the lowest incidence of preventable deaths
among their casualties in the history of modern warfare.
TCCC is now used by all services in the U.S. Military and many
allied nations as well to care for their combat wounded. TCCC-
based prehospital trauma training is now becoming widespread
in the US civilian sector as well.
Trauma Care:
Military vs Civilian
• Prehospital trauma care is very different in the
military vs the civilian settings.
• TCCC was developed to address these differences.
• Military units that have trained all unit members
in TCCC have achieved the lowest incidence of
preventable combat deaths in history.
• TCCC has now been made the standard for the
US military and TCCC training is required for
everyone in the Department of Defense.
Trauma Care Setting
Tactical Trauma Care Setting –
Berator
Shrapnel Wound in the Hindu Kush
Battlefield Trauma Care
Prior to 9/11

• Combat medical training historically was

modeled on civilian courses.
– Emergency Medical Technician
– Advanced Trauma Life Support
• The US military trained medics to the
standard of care in non-tactical (civilian)
settings.
• Tactical factors were not considered.
Battlefield Trauma Care:
2001
• Based on trauma courses NOT developed for combat
• Medics taught NOT to use tourniquets
• No hemostatic agents
• No junctional tourniquets
• Large volume crystalloid fluid resuscitation for shock
• Civil War-vintage technology for battlefield analgesia (IM
morphine)
• SOF medics – IV cutdowns for difficult venous access
• No tactical context for the care rendered
• 2 large bore IVs on all casualties with significant trauma
• No focus on prevention of trauma-related coagulopathy
• Heavy emphasis on endotracheal intubation 10
Tourniquets: The Primary
Driver for TCCC
“The striking feature was to see healthy young
Americans with a single injury of the distal
extremity arrive at the magnificently equipped
field hospital, usually within hours, but dead on
arrival. In fact there were 193 deaths due to
wounds of the upper and lower extremities, ……
of the 2600.”
CAPT J.S. Maughon
Mil Med 1970
* Extremity hemorrhage math in Vietnam:
193 of 2600 = 7.4% x 46,233 fatalities =
11
3,421
Different Trauma Requires
Different Care Strategies

• It is intuitive that combat and civilian trauma are

different, BUT…
• It is difficult to devise and implement needed changes.
• No one group of medical professionals has all of the
necessary skills and experience.
• Trauma docs and combat medical personnel have
different skill sets. Both are needed to optimize
battlefield trauma care strategies.
• Tourniquets are one striking example of how
battlefield trauma care has sometimes been slow to
change.
Prehospital Trauma Care:
Military vs. Civilian

• Hostile fire
• Darkness
• Environmental extremes
• Different wounding
epidemiology
• Limited equipment
• Need for tactical maneuver
• Long delays to hospital care
• Different medic training and experience
Tactical Combat Casualty
Care in Special Operations

Military Medicine Supplement

August 1996

Trauma care guidelines

customized for the battlefiel
Extremity Hemorrhage
Junctional Hemorrhage

These types of wounds are often caused by

IEDs and may result in junctional
Tension Pneumothorax

Air escapes from

injured lung –
pressure builds
up in chest

Air pressure
collapses lung
and pushes on
heart

Heart compressed - not able

to pump well
Airway Trauma
The Three Objectives
of TCCC

• Treat the casualty

• Prevent additional casualties
• Complete the mission
Changes in TCCC:
How Are They Made?

The Committee on Tactical Combat

Casualty Care
Committee on Tactical
Combat Casualty Care

• The prehospital arm of the Joint Trauma System

• 42 members from all services in the DoD and civilian
sector
• Trauma Surgeons, Emergency Medicine, and
Critical Care physicians, combatant unit physicians;
medical educators; combat medics, corpsmen, and
PJs
• 100% deployed experience as of 2018
• Meet periodically; update TCCC as needed
Battlefield Trauma Care Today
• Phased care in TCCC
• Aggressive use of tourniquets in CUF
• Combat Gauze as hemostatic agent
• Aggressive needle thoracostomy
• Sit up and lean forward airway positioning
• Surgical airways for maxillofacial trauma
• Hypotensive resuscitation with blood products
• IVs only when needed/IO access if required
• PO meds, OTFC, ketamine as “Triple Option”
for battlefield analgesia
• Hypothermia prevention; avoid NSAIDs
• Battlefield antibiotics
• Tranexamic acid
22
• Junctional Tourniquets/XStat/Pelvic binding
TCCC: How Do We
Know That It’s Working?
TCCC Early in the
Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts
• NOT widely used at the start of the wars
• Increased use by both Special Operations and
conventional units beginning in 2005
The Drivers:
• Early reports of success with TCCC, especially TQs
• Holcomb study: “Causes of SOF Deaths 2001-
2004”
• USAISR tourniquet study by Walters et al (2005)
• USSOCOM TCCC message - March 2005
• USCENTCOM tourniquet and hemostatic agents
(HemCon) message - 2005
Preventable Combat Deaths
from Not Using Tourniquets
• Maughon – Mil Med 1970: Vietnam
– 193 of 2,600
– 7.4% of total combat fatalities
• Kelly – J Trauma 2008: OEF + OIF (2003/4 and 2006)
– 77 of 982 (in both cohorts of fatalities)
– 7.8% of total fatalities – no better then Vietnam
• Tourniquets became widely used in 2005-2006
• Eastridge – J Trauma 2012: OEF + OIF (to Jun 2011)
– 119 of 4,596
– 2.6% of total fatalities – a 67% decrease
25
Tourniquet Outcomes in TCCC
Transition Initiative Report

• Sixty-seven successful tourniquet

applications identified in 2005 and 2006
• No avoidable loss of limbs due to tourniquet
use identified

Butler, Greydanus, Holcomb

2006 USAISR Report
“TCCC: Combat Evaluation 2005”
TCCC: Success in Combat
3rd Infantry Division
“The adoption and implementation of the principles of
TCCC by the medical platoon of TF 1-15 IN in OIF
1 resulted in overwhelming success. Over 25 days of
continuous combat with 32 friendly casualties,
many of them serious, we had 0 KIAs and 0 Died
From Wounds, while simultaneously caring for a
significant number of Iraqi civilian and military
casualties.”
CPT Michael Tarpey
Battalion Surgeon 1-15 IN
AMEDD Journal 2005
27
Tourniquets – Kragh et al:
Two Landmark Papers

• Published in 2008/2009
• Tourniquets are saving lives on the battlefield
• 31 lives saved in 6 months by tourniquets
• Author estimated 2000 lives saved with tourniquets
in this conflict up to that date (2009)
• No arms or legs lost because of tourniquet use
Eliminating Preventable
Death on the Battlefield

• TCCC in the 75th Ranger Regiment

• All Rangers and docs trained in TCCC
• Ranger preventable death incidence: 3%
• Overall U.S. military preventable deaths: 24%
What Do the Soldiers Say?

A recent U.S. Army Training and Doctrine

Command survey of Soldiers in combat
units found that TCCC is the second most
valued element of their training, exceeded
only by training in the use of their
individual weapons.

COL Karen O’Brien

TRADOC Surgeon
CoTCCC Meeting April 2010
TCCC in Canadian Forces
Savage et al: Can J Surg 2011

Conclusion:
“For the first time in decades, the CF has been involved
in a war in which its members have participated in
sustained combat operations and have suffered
increasingly severe injuries. Despite this, the CF
experienced the highest casualty survival rate in history.
Though this success is multifactorial, the determination
and resolve of CF leadership to develop and deliver
comprehensive, multileveled TCCC packages to soldiers
and medics is a significant reason for that and has
unquestionably saved the lives of Canadian, Coalition
and Afghan Security Forces…..”
Limb Tourniquets in the
U.S. Military

In 2001, almost nobody in the U.S. Military had a

tourniquet.

In 2018, thanks to TCCC, no American Soldier,

Sailor, Airman, or Marine goes onto the
battlefield without a tourniquet.
Hartford Consensus
2 April 2013
• Working group organized by American College
of Surgeons Board of Regents and FBI
• In response to Sandy Hook shootings
• Excerpt from findings:
ASDHA TCCC Letter
14 February 2014
Secretary of Defense
James Mattis

• General Mattis letter to Service Chiefs

• Written during his time as CENTOM Commander
• Highlights Ranger success with TCCC
35
• Stresses importance of TCCC training
Secretary of Defense
James Mattis

36
DOD Instruction on
Medical Readiness Training

16 March 2018
DOD Instruction on
Medical Readiness Training
Section 2.a.b Policy
“TCCC is the DoD standard of care for
first
responders (medical and non-medical)
…..All
Service members receive role based TCCC
training
and certification in accordance with the
skill level
(i.e., All Service Members, Combat
Lifesaver,
Thanks to: Mr. Ed Whitt, Ms. Elizabeth Fudge,
Combat Medic/Corpsmen, and Combat
Mr. Kevin Kelley, CDR Tara Cozzarelli
Summary of Key Points
• Prehospital trauma care in tactical settings is very
different from civilian settings.
• Tactical and environmental factors have a
profound impact on trauma care rendered on the
battlefield.
• Good medicine can be bad tactics.
• Up to 24% of combat deaths today are potentially
preventable.
• Good first responder care is critical.
• TCCC will give you the tools you need!
Summary of Key Points

• Three phases of care in TCCC

– Care Under Fire
– Tactical Field Care
– TACEVAC Care
Summary of Key Points
• TCCC was designed for combat.
• BUT many of these concepts have excellent
applicability in civilian prehospital settings, too.
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44
TCCC Quick Reference
Guide

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Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC)
Quick Reference Guide

• Current abbreviated guidelines

• TCCC algorithms
• Pharmacology references
• Planning considerations.

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Photo courtesy MSG (Ret) Harold Montgomer

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