TacMed Academy, LLC

13/04/2024

Rifle qual on the new LMT Defense with the Eotech optic, magnifier and suppressor. She shot beautifully.

Reminder that qualifications are simply tests. They should not be considered training!

Enjoyed the random 30 mph winds and downpour today 🤙🏽 who said paper targets aren’t moving targets?
****msqualification

09/03/2024

Poor chest compressions are better than no chest compressions!

With being said everyone should strive to attend a reputable CPR/AED class.

Here’s a quick run down as a refresher:

1. Scene safety, initial patient assessment, PPE.

2. Check for life threatening bleeding.

3. Check for responsiveness, breathing, pulse.

4. Call 911 (or have someone else do it). Remember group mentality. People will just stand around not knowing what to do. Step and demand someone specifically to call 911.

5. Lay patient supine (face up) on a flat hard surface.

6. Give 30 compressions. 2 hands with fingers interlocked, centered on chest, shoulders over Chest with arms locked. Depth of at least 2 inches (adult). Infants and children is a depth of about 1.5 inches. Compression rate is about 100-120 compressions per minute. Allow chest to return to normal position after each compression.

7. Give 2 rescue breaths if you are comfortable doing that but studies show that hands only cpr can be just as effective in the early stages of cardiac arrest.

Compressions are the most important!

If you are doing rescue breaths use the head tilt chin lift technique, pinch the nose close, seal off the mouth, then deliver a normal breath and ensure the chest is rising.

8. Use an AED as soon as one is available.

9. Continue 30 and 2 or hands only cpr until help arrives.

12/01/2024

Improvised Chest Seals 👇

Do you always have the correct gear with you 100% of the time? In a perfect world you would but let’s be realistic. Even highly qualified first responders will leave their house to try to live a normal life without all their work items.

Scenario: you just witnessed someone experience a traumatic thoracic injury and do not have a chest seal to cover the sucking chest wound. What can you do? Grab any piece of impermeable plastic and tape it over the hole in the chest and back. You could use a sandwich bag, potato chip bag, plastic wrapper, Saran Wrap etc.

Location: We Seal “the box.” Any traumatic penetrating injury within the navel region (belly button) to collar bone gets a chest seal.

Evidence: There is still some debate in the medical communtiy about whether to tape the improvised chest seal on 3 or 4 sides. If you are going to tape the seal on 3 sides remember to leave the side open that is towards the ground when you roll the patient into the recovery position. This will allow the wound to drain naturally upon expiration and will seal up upon inspiration.

Some new research/guidelines indicates taping on all 4 sides is better because it creates a better seal which is the primary goal. Taping an improvised seal on 3 sides is good in theory but there isn’t a lot of real-world evidence to suggest its effectiveness at properly draining.

Whichever method you choose, practice! No one wants the first time they perform a life saving action to be the real event.

01/01/2024

New years Medical Monday! 🎊

We wanted to wish you all a Happy New Years and start the year off right with a Medical Monday post about what happens to the human body’s blood vessels as it deals with stress and trauma.

Cheers to a great year full of new connections, lessons, and top quality education!

30/12/2023

While not a new concept, we can assure you that operating in n dual roles as LE/EMS is not an easy task. This can really only be successfully implemented in rural areas with a low EMS call volume and even then it is still not an ideal situation.

We are at an odd time where we are still trying to figure out the best way to handle EMS calls proficiency while maintaining financial concerns and a nationwide staffing crisis.

Should rural EMS be outsourced to other public safety departments? The idea of EMS operating under another department is nothing new.

27/12/2023

Whose responsibility is it to ensure first responders are proficient in their duties? 👇

In my humble opinion, I believe both the department/agency and the first responder are responsible for the development of their skills, mental and physical fitness.

Agencies need to be providing their personnel with opportunity to grow. This includes:

1️⃣ Formal/informal Field trainings
2️⃣ Formal training outside of the agency
3️⃣ Time allotted on the job to work out, shoot at the range, train on each other or medical dummy’s etc.
4️⃣ Debriefing after traumatic incidents/ Mental health breaks

First responders need to be motivated to improve their own skills and abilities outside of mandated trainings. This includes:

1️⃣ Working out on their own time
2️⃣ Spending time at the range if your job requires you to carry a firearm.
3️⃣ Developing a new skill (new language, computer based skill, social media skill etc)
4️⃣ Developing their own coping mechanisms to ensure they stay mentally fit.

As an FTO, I could never wrap my head around the idea of giving up on someone unless they have given up on themselves and the job completely. Training may not fix every issue but it can fix many.

There’s no “one size fits all” strategy but If both the agency and the first responder are investing in each other, the outcome should be positive.

Let us know your opinion ⬇️

25/12/2023

We want to send our warm wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season to everyone that has joined us on our journey.

To all the fire, EMS, police, and military who are working today, we wish you a safe, happy and hopefully uneventful holiday.

Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁

-TACMED ACADEMY

19/12/2023

Tactical Mindset: Condition yellow v condition red 👇

First responders and military personnel need to operate in “condition yellow” most of the time and occasionally operate in “condition red.”

🟡“Condition Yellow” is when the person is at that perfect balance of a zen like state while maintaining situational awareness and alertness. First responders should strive to live in condition yellow.

🔴 “Condition Red” is the fight or flight response triggered by your sympathetic nervous system. It is an automatic physiological response to a perceived threat.

🧠Soldiers in combat will operate in condition red much longer than civilian first responders. The longer your mind stays in condition red, the higher likely for psychological injury, but in times of combat, is necessary to ensure your survival.

🧠A Swat team point man penetrating the threshold to confront a hostage situation may need to operate in the red to have his cognitive reaction time, visual reaction time, and complex motor skills all operating at peak performance.

🧠Another example would be an EMT dealing with a combative patient.

🧠Yes, you’d lose your fine motor skills, and fall victim to “tunnel vision” but your in a brief state of “fight” which helps keep you safe. If trained, we can reduce the time from visualizing the threat, processing the threat, and reacting to the threat, leading to faster decision making.

🧠Operating in the red is good for brief threatening encounters but we need to switch back to condition yellow as soon as appropriate to ensure we stay physiologically regulated (homeostasis).

🧠This is all about calculated risks and finding that optimal level of physiological arousal for a given task.

27/11/2023

💥MARCH: Airway Overview 💥

We wanted to provide a brief overview of airway management options.

🔵Basic airway management is often overlooked. Whether you are an EMT or Paramedic, mastering basic airways is an invaluable skill. Most airways can be managed with simple maneuvers and devices.

🔴The least invasive way to open an airway is using the head tilt-chin lift or jaw-thrust maneuver. Head tilt can be used if there is no suspected spinal injury and jaw thrust can be used if there is a spinal injury.

🟢Simple devices to manage the airway include the oropharangeal (OPA) and nasopharyngeal (NPA) Airways (EMT level). NPAs are used over OPAs in the tactical setting. These basic maneuvers and devices are a great starting point and are also a great safety net if advanced airways fail.

🟡If basic airways are not sufficient, advanced airways can be used like supraglottic airways (iGel, laryngeal mask airway (LMA) King tube etc.), or Endotracheal tube (ETT). ETT is secure but difficult to place. LMA is an alternative to ETT.

🟣Supraglottic airways are typically quicker and easier to place compared to ETT.

🟤Video Laryngoscopes allow for EMS to visualize the glottis for a more successful intubation.

⚪️The goal of all of these devices is to allow a clear path for ventilations and oxygenation.

⚫️Cricothyrotomy is a rare surgical airway procedure used by EMS when conventional methods have failed. This procedure involves an incision in the cricothyroid membrane where an ET tube is inserted. This a last resort procedure used when the provider cannot intubate or ventilate the casualty.

The device/intervention you choose will depend on your training (scope), indications and contraindications, your environment, and resources.

We will cover these in depth in later posts.

18/11/2023

Same story different account.

I know any account similar to ours has been hit with the wrath of IG but it is true that we unfortunately get shadow banned and are unfairly targeted.

If any of our content is beneficial to you, it may be beneficial to others. We certainly appreciate anyone that is gracious enough to share our content.

We appreciate each and every one of you!

-TACMED ACADEMY Team

08/11/2023

28/10/2023

National Drug Take Back Day 💊

Hand taped poster by yours truly 😂

Head to your local police departments today to get rid of those unwanted prescription drugs to help keep them out of kids hands.

It’s a free, safe, and confidential way to dispose of your old medications.

Click the link below to find a collection site near you. 👇

https://www.dea.gov/takebackday

26/10/2023

Some more information on the ongoing Maine threat. Police looking for 40 year old Robert Card.

The gunman open fired at a bowling alley and bar in Lewingston, Maine killing at least 22 people and injuring dozens.

He should be considered armed and dangerous. Keep an eye out and stay safe!

25/10/2023

⚠️Warning graphic video ⚠️

This appears to be a slash wound of the base of neck. The blood may be dark but there is a strong flow rate.

This type of wound can (and should) be packed with a pressure dressing applied around the wound then wrapped under the armpit on the opposite side.

While many texts books say “don’t pack the neck” this is a generalization due to the airway concerns. While the trachea should NOT be packed, the base of the neck to the shoulder area can absolutely be packed.

This video also shows you what adrenaline can do to keep you alive when you are in that fight or flight mode. A good reminder that the casualty’s mental status may not be an accurate representation of the severity of the injury. Always important to perform your blood sweeps in situations where it may not be this obvious where the bleeding is coming from.

Do we think this is jugular vein hemorrhaging, carotid artery, or both? Comment below 👇

Video Source: Unknown

23/10/2023

Medical Monday: Hemostatic v regular gauze.

We have talked about the importance of carrying hemostatic gauze (quickclot, celox etc) but we wanted to take a moment to talk about the reality of costs.

Yes, it is true that hemostatic gauze is recommended by us and many other organizations out there. It truly does stop the bleeding 🩸 faster than regular gauze due to impregnated mineral that speeds up the clotting process.

However, the 2 most important factors when talking about wound packing are:

1️⃣ Pinpoint direct pressure on the source of bleeding (severed artery).

2️⃣ Packing the wound completely to ensure adequate pressure is maintained.

We understand the costs associated with purchasing hemostatic gauze can be around $50 💰 for 1 package and the costs for purchasing regular gauze are about 1/20th the cost.

Why are we telling you this?

Because if you have to make the financial decision between 1 pack of hemostatic gauze or several packs of regular gauze it may be a smart consideration to purchase several regular gauze packets compared to 1 pack of combat gauze. The video and image is to show you how much gauze needs to be packed in even the smallest of wounds.

Ideally, you would carry both types of gauze but we wanted to do a post explaining options for those on a budget 💲

10/10/2023

Congrats to on winning the giveaway! DM us you shipping information within 24 hours so our team can ship you your gear. 🤙🏽

*CLOSED*

We’re giving away a custom TACMED ACADMEY IFAK!

Contents include:

1. 600D Nylon IFAK Pouch
2. 2 TACMED ACADEMY PVC Velcro backed patches
3. NAR CAT Gen 7 TQ
4. Quikclot Combat Gauze
5. NAR 4” Flat Emergency trauma Dressing
6. 2 NAR Bear Claw Nitrile gloves
7. NAR Trauma shears
8. 2 NAR Compressed gauze
9. NAR Survival Blanket

Over $150 value!

02/10/2023

Sunday Gunday! 💥

Yesterday we did some 12 gauge training with new holosun red dot.

When going to the range do you have a trauma kit nearby win case of an emergency?

We are strong believers that if you own fi****ms or go shooting, you need to have the right gear with you and more importantly, know how to use it.

Firearm accidents occur all the time due to a lack of training or negligence.

Be that guy/gal that is always prepared 💪🏼. Always hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.

At a minimum your range kit should include:

1️⃣ Tourniquets (We prefer NAR CAT, SAM XT or SOF TQ)
2️⃣ Vented Chest Seals (We prefer NAR Hyfin)
3️⃣ Hemostatic Gauze (We prefer QuikClot Combat)
4️⃣ Regular Gauze (We prefer NAR Z-folded Compressed)
5️⃣ Pressure dressing (We prefer Olaes pressure Bandage)

As always, make it home to your family at the end of the day!

****msinstructor ****mstraining