Page 7 - NATO Supplement

thus curriculum before investing in simula-
1.0 ExEcutivE Summary
tion technology. Multiple military-oriented
prehospital medical curricula are currently
This document is a summary of the proceedings of available. The workshop participants agreed
the NATO Research Workshop (RWS) chartered that Military Prehospital Trauma Life Sup-
by the Human Factors and Medicine Panel (HFM) port (M-PHTLS) curriculum, because of
held in Chievres, Belgium, 18–20 April 2012. It is Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS)
the product of discussions among experts in com- program recognition by 20 NATO nations
bat medicine, Special Operations medical support, and its ties to the on Tactical Combat Casu-
medical training, medical simulation, and industry alty Care (CoTCCC) Tactical Combat Casu-
from 17 nations. Jointly sponsored by the NATO alty Care (TCCC) curriculum, is the opti mal
Research and Technology Organization (RTO) starting point for establishing medical inter-
and the NATO Special Operations Headquarters operability across the Alliance SOF medical
(NSHQ), the RWS combined the academic and footprint for nations without a comparable
technical expertise of a carefully chosen HFM ex- curriculum.
pert panel of scientists and engineers with a panel n Nationally accepted curriculum training ob-
of NATO Nations, Partner, and Contact Nations jectives should drive simulation requirements.
Special Operations medical leaders with extensive n SOF medical curriculum should focus on
operational experience. The result is a compre- skill acquisition and include casualty scenar-
hensive discussion on the current state of medical ios that require team coordination between
simulators and applicability of current technology medical providers, SOF Operators, and SOF
and curricula to train Special Operations medical commanders. This curriculum should pro-
providers. The critical workshop objectives were; vide enough foundational knowledge for ra-
sharing best practices across the Alliance and pro- tional judgment as to when and why certain
viding actionable recommendations to NATO skills are applied in patient care.
commanders and national senior medical leaders. n SOF medical curriculum should emphasize
medical provider skills, as well as SOF Op-
The operational framework for the RWS included erator medical skills. Combat experience has
two key requirements. First, NATO Special Op- proved that often it is the Operator, not the
erations Forces (SOF) requires highly-trained, SOF medic, who must provide initial lifesav-
flex ible, physically fit medical providers with an ing interventions.
advanced scope of practice compared with con- n SOF combat medical simulation should use
ventional counterparts due to the austere, isolated, modern simulation principles, including adult
frequently clandestine SOF environment. Second, learning methods, blended learning tech-
changing national SOF medical scope of practice niques, as well as double loop learning mod-
is a joint endeavor requiring the collaborative sup- els to optimize educational objectives. The
port of national senior medical leadership and NSHQ Combat Medical Simulation Course
SOF commanders. Using this framework for the due to launch in winter 2013 will be designed
RWS deliberations, HFM-224 produced several to teach these concepts to NATO medical
recommendations for SOF medical training: trainers.
n The Nordic Initiative is an example of a collab-
n Nations seeking to provide SOF medical orative effort that is an effective tool to max-
training should first define objectives and imize educational goals and interoperability

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