Army and Air Force personnel from Brooke Army Medical Center's Department of Emergency Medicine recently established a simulation training platform to increase readiness and meet Joint Commission requirements for staff development and training.
The Tactical Trauma Reaction and Evacuation Crossover Course, or TTREX, is designed to test and validate Individual Critical Task Lists and the Comprehensive Medical Readiness Program for military medical personnel.
"The TTREX course was developed to familiarize military and civilian personnel with critical trauma skills relevant to both the hospital and the austere environment and to maintain mission readiness," said Army 1st Lt. Jackson Goddard, registered nurse.
The eight-hour course at the Torch Training Site at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland incorporates battlefield trauma simulations, evacuation procedures, and trauma care in a Role 2 environment. Role 2, also known as forward resuscitative care, has the capability to manage more advanced trauma patients and continue more advanced resuscitative measures in an austere environment such as a combat support hospital.
"We have combined the point of injury with the Role 2 environment," said Air Force 1st Lt. Marissa Vasek, registered nurse. "Our goal is to get people to understand the deployment setting and the challenges they might face while deployed including limitations with supplies, manpower or experience."
Additionally, participants experience what it's like to be on a C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft during a critical care air transport mission to see how a patient is transported to a higher echelon of care.
Army Spc. Wade Wolf, a combat medic, said he feels the training is beneficial because participants get to see how a patient moves from the point of injury to a stateside hospital.
"We've had more than 40 participants over the two-day exercise," Wolf said. "I would say about half of them have never been deployed."
Emergency nurse Army Capt. Megan Gross agreed.
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