All Service Member Course (ASM)

All Service Member Course

The VSC All Service Member Course is designed for all members of a tactical team to gain valuable training and insights into operational medicine from point of injury through prolonged casualty care. Heavy emphasis is placed upon point of injury care in care under fire scenarios, with high level instruction on bleeding control methods and tools. The trainees will be exposed to the bleeding control, airway management, respiratory injury, circulatory access, splinting, burns, abdominal injuries, and hypothermia/head injury.
Course format is broken down into three phases of instruction:

Classroom instruction (Phase 1):
This one-day didactic portion of instruction is focused on introducing scientifically sound practices in all areas of operational injuries. We accomplish this through slide presentations, skills stations, and group discussions on case study examples.

FTX 1 (Phase 2):
This day is dedicated to reinforcing the lessons from training day one, though it is done on our high-fidelity human analog simulation model (HASM). The model will respond to trauma just like a human patient and will also stabilize when medical aid is applied. We focus heavily on bleeding control and airway management, especially at point of injury through initial evacuation to a safe area. Trainees will use all standard hemostatic agents and have an opportunity to get hands on experience with varied methods for bleeding control. FTX1 day is finished with skills stations on respiratory injury, fracture stabilization, burn treatment, and a brief prolonged casualty care scenario. We culminate the day with discussion on ballistic injury patterns and an anatomical review.

FTX2 (Phase 3):
Scenario day begins with briefings and scenario backstory, the trainees are broken into elements, and comm/marking equipment is given to TLs. Teams set off to cover no less than 3 immersive scenarios based on the backgrounds of the trainees in a given class. Using the HASM once more trainees will enter tactically fluid situations in which bleeding control and airway management are key, movement to tactical field care, and finally aggressive medical intervention to save the model. The scenarios will increase in both intensity and injury pattern and will culminate with handoff to higher medical care after prolonged casualty care scenarios with limited resources.

** All trainees will then be eligible and prepared to sit for the IBSC tactical responder board certification