Crawl, Walk Fast, Run Hard: Military-Civilian Partnership Training at the Army Trauma Training Course Improves...

Area of Science:

• Military Medicine
• Surgical Training
• Trauma Care

Background:

• The Army Trauma Training Course (ATTC) trains U.S. Army Forward Resuscitative and Surgical Detachments (FRSDs) for deployed combat casualty care.
• The program's instruction includes didactics, skill stations, mass casualty exercises, and clinical rotations.
• No prior studies have assessed the subjective effectiveness of the ATTC program.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the perceived effectiveness of the ATTC program of instruction (POI).
• To assess if ATTC graduates report improved operational readiness and confidence in their skills.

Main Methods:

• Post-course surveys with a 5-point Likert scale were administered electronically to rotating FRSDs.
• Descriptive statistics were calculated to analyze survey data from 25 courses between October 2021 and December 2023.

Main Results:

• A high response rate (90.9%) was achieved from 485 FRSD members across 25 courses.
• Over 90% of respondents agreed the mass casualty exercise improved MASCAL management, clinical rotations aided team development, and the course increased confidence in Individual Critical Task List (ICTL) skills.
• Respondents also reported increased knowledge of Joint Trauma System (JTS) Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) and favorable contributions to operational readiness, with 99.1% recommending the course.

Conclusions:

• The ATTC program of instruction subjectively enhances the collective and individual preparedness of FRSDs for deployed combat casualty care.
• Further research is recommended to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of this training platform.