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Evaluation of an Integrated Rescue Task Force Model for Active Threat Response
Prehospital Emergency Care
|September 12, 2018
Summary
Integrated law enforcement officer (LEO) and emergency medical services (EMS) Rescue Task Force (RTF) responses to active shooter events show effective clinical care but highlight areas for operational improvement in communication and formation.
Area of Science:
- Emergency Medicine
- Public Safety
- Trauma Care
Background:
- Effective response to active threat events is critical for saving lives.
- Coordination between law enforcement officers (LEOs) and emergency medical services (EMS) requires joint training for optimal outcomes.
- Maximizing survival during active shooter incidents is a shared responsibility.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the performance of an integrated LEO-EMS Rescue Task Force (RTF) response to a simulated active shooter incident.
- To utilize objective performance measures to assess LEO-EMS operations, communication, time intervals, and trauma care.
- To identify areas for improvement in integrated responses to active threat events.
Main Methods:
- Conducted simulated active shooter scenarios following didactic training for EMS providers and patrol officers.
- Evaluated integrated RTFs comprising LEOs and EMS providers tasked with triage, treatment, and evacuation of simulated casualties.
- Recorded 30 objective data elements, analyzing performance using descriptive statistics and t-tests.
Main Results:
- Evaluated 69 scenarios involving 388 EMS providers and 468 LEOs over 18 days.
- Life-saving interventions like tourniquet application were high (96%), with LEOs applying 88%.
- Operational performance showed areas for improvement, including maintaining protective LEO-EMS formation (49% incorrect) and appropriate single-patient evacuation (20% inappropriate).
Conclusions:
- Integrated LEO-EMS RTF response to simulated active shooter events demonstrated generally appropriate clinical care.
- Operational aspects, such as team formation and evacuation procedures, require further refinement.
- Objective measurement of response goals is valuable for benchmarking and performance improvement in active threat event responses.
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