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FORT MCCOY, Wis., July 15, 2021 – The patient lay in excruciating pain on the table from a gunshot wound. Blood gushed from the stomach as medics tried to stop the bleeding and stabilize the patient. These are the sights, sounds and smells many Soldiers do not soon forget. What happens next is guided by years of training, leadership and Soldier will, as highly skilled doctors and nurses fight to save another Soldier's life.
During Regional Medic 86-21-01, a training exercise focused on the validation of medical units at the brigade level, Soldiers from the 691st Forward Resuscitative and Surgical Detachment, the 803rd Hospital Center, and the 405th and 399th Field Hospitals practice lifesaving techniques and procedures on new, life-like cut suits. Cut suits enable doctors, nurses and medics to better simulate battlefield trauma procedures. Thus, increasing the chances of saving life and limbs of trauma victims.
“Our mission is damage control surgery,” said Maj. Elizabeth Tricozzi, an intensive care nurse with the 691st FRSD. “As patients come in, we will triage them depending on their level of care and determine if they need life-saving surgery.”
New to these field hospitals are the tactical combat casualty care cut suits. These suits include major organs, intestines and more so doctors and nurses can practice lifesaving procedures and techniques that may benefit them on the battlefield.
“In this scenario the suit was used to simulate a gunshot victim who was injured in the lung, or the abdomen or both,” said Col. Paul Malinda an Emergency Medicine Physician with the 7458th Medical Operations Readiness Unit. “We put a needle decompression in and then put a chest tube in, which resulted in his vital signs improving and the breath sound coming back.”
The 20 pound suit allows medical providers to treat the three primary causes of death on the battlefield: bleeding, airway compromise, and chest wounds.
“I was very impressed with the cut suit that we used and that the surgeon was able to get to the injured Soldier so fast,” Malinda said while cleaning up after the simulated surgery event. “Very impressed with everything.”
| Date Taken: | 07.15.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 07.26.2021 11:41 |
| Story ID: | 401708 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 294 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Cut suits: Army medical units practice life saving techniques at Regional Medic 86-21-01, by SFC Tom Wade, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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