I recently attended the Dynamic First Aid course taught by Caleb Causey of LoneStarMedics.com. The course was taught at the Tactical Arts Academy in Austin where I also train Filipino and Indonesian Martial Arts.
The course was interesting not only because of the material taught but also because my wife attended with me.
I had previously attended a CPR certification course but I didn’t feel confident that if the need arises I can provide first aid to someone – or myself.
It turned out that Dynamic First Aid (more precisely the material taught) is something completely different than the CPR-First Aid taught by the Red Cross… And, I’m glad that I went and got the training!
What I learned:
- Assess the scene – scan, make sure it’s safe for me and then proceed or don’t if not safe
- How to approach and where to approach from
- How to assess the level of consciousness of the patient
- How to direct bystanders to assist (like call 911), or simply to stop them from using a smart phone for videotaping – especially if certain body parts of the patient are exposed
- CAB (circulation, airways, breathing) sequence
- Put on gloves if assisting someone different than myself or someone I know (like a family member for example)
- Clothes cutting/removing to expose injuries
- When, where and how to put on a tourniquet (C-A-T
or SOF-T Wide
) – on myself or others and for how long the tourniquet can be left in place
- How to stuff a wound to stop bleeding
The course was a half-day long but it could have easily been a whole day. The printout we were all given in the beginning included the material above but also other material that we merely touched upon like drags/carries, impaled objects, broken bones, burns, seizures, heart attack, eye injuries, shock.
What I especially liked was the role-play drills (the pic above). They provided levels of stress, which is what really tested how we would really do in similar situations (we would probably would do even worse since there wasn’t any real injuries or blood, etc.).
Role-play drills are the type of hands-on that is of most value in courses like this. It’s similar to the force-on-force in firearms training. The reason is people break under even moderate levels of stress and what is simply learned as theory isn’t usually what will be applied in a real-life situation if there isn’t any realistic (under stress) training.
I still feel like I need more knowledge and even more practice to really feel confident, but at least now I 1) finally have my own IFAK (individual first aid kit) for my EDC (every-day carry), and 2) I know how to self-apply a tourniquet to stop bleeding from gun shot wound to the extremities… or do that and some of the listed above procedures to someone else.. should the need arise.
Next, I would love to get some training in Tactical Medicine (which is also offered by LoneStarMedics).
What about you – do you have any training or experience with Dynamic First Aid or Tactical Medicine?