π Reading Time, 2 minutes Although dedicated medical equipment is always preferred, if the only thing that is going to keep someone from dying is a creative solution, you better get creative. Using everyday items, including a Zebra F-701 pen, …
MARCH: Massive Hemorrhage, Airway, Respiration, Circulation, Hypothermia Prevention
The easy to remember mnemonic MARCH reminds us of the priorities in treating casualties during TECC and TCCC situations. MARCH provides a framework to address immediate life threats and gives an organized approach to begin a casualty evaluation.Β The MARCH mnemonic is preferable to the ABCDE model because it takes into consideration the reason you need an airway and to be breathing is to circulate blood to the casualty’s brain. Recognizing that, the first step in our casualty evaluation should be to look for massive hemorrhage.
Once past massive hemorrhage, A-R-C is loosely approximated by A-B-C. H- is a reminder that a large number of traumatic casualties arrive at the emergency department or medical treatment facility hypothermic which dramatically increases their death rate.
The MARCH mnemonic can be applied to any patient, as the initial casualty evaluation usually rules out massive hemorrhage.
Kneeling on the casualty’s groin for distal hemorrhage control When I was in the Special Forces Medical Sergeants course a very long time ago, I was taught a stopgap measure…
π Reading Time, 2 minutes While recently in Brisbane, Australia I had the opportunity to ride with a High Acuity Response Unit (HARU) paramedic for the Queensland Ambulance Service. HARU paramedics are a select group of critical care paramedics with …
π Reading Time, 1 minutes Dragging a casualty with a slung weapon presents a safety problem. Learn what it is & how to deal with it.
π Reading Time, 1 minutes Using the XStat 30 trainer in an in-person class on a TrueClot wound model. The sponges immediately expand in the wound and rapidly exert pressure you can feel under your hand. *provided as demonstration only, …
π Reading Time, 1 minutes Teaching wound packing has always been challenging as there are few good wound packing models. The Phokus wound cube has 4 different wound profiles and has a realistic texture. In this short video, see the …