Tactical medical course

It is an unfortunate state of affairs that now exists in the US where the instances of ‘active shooter’ multi–casualty events, due to a person or persons wielding firearms in schools, shopping centres and, most recently, a cinema, have heralded the deployment of special weapons and tactics (SWAT) officers and other police type emergency service units more often than ever before.

Looking from outside the US, most would champion the more rigorous enforcements of gun control; however a realisation that legislation alone will not stop the increasing amount of these incidents has forced the psyche of US law enforcement to accept that they need to prepare for the WHEN rather than IF such an event unfolds in their jurisdiction. With this inevitable event on their horizon they are now training their ESU, SWAT, ATF and other response agents to deal with these scenarios.

Obviously casualties are going to be involved, in fact it is estimated that every 15 seconds a person is injured during these crimes. Recent studies in shooting related crime and battlefield injuries show that 10 % of persons that are shot die from the shooting directly (shots to the head, for example). The other 90 % die predominately from airway/ respiratory compromise or massive haemorrhaging, both of which could be relatively easily treated resulting in a favourable outcome for the victim.