Tactical medicine -- the Israeli revised protocol

Limited conflicts and the war against terrorism, in particular, have changed the emphasis in the present trend from preparing to cope with full-scale wars to the need to combat in limited conflicts. This shift has affected significantly medical units' preparations. Law enforcement organizations have come together with medical first responders in a combined new model. This model is supposed to be adopted and utilized in combat and evolved from the civilian model toward a modus operandi that combines the tactical and medical protocols into a single algorithm, the "Tactical Combat Casualty Care" (TCCC). This TCCC model is believed to enhance the mutual understanding and cooperation of tactical and medical forces in combat and especially amongst special military units. Utilizing the model will be achieved by the development of well-matched standard operating procedures and sharing drills. All these acts are hoped to improve safety of the participating units and hopefully also the medical outcomes.