Management of medical emergencies is best accomplished by appropriately trained physicians in an Emergency Department setting. Special Operations Combat Medics (SOCMs), however, may often find themselves in austere tactical environments where evacuation of a teammate to an MTF for a medical emergency would entail either significant delays to treatment or compromise the unit’s mission. Although SOCM-trained medics are not routinely authorized by the services to treat non-traumatic emergencies, in many SOF situations, training SOCMs to treat at least some medical emergencies may result in both improved outcome for the individual and an improved probability of mission success. The disorders chosen have one of the following properties in common: they are relatively common; they are acute in onset; the SOCM is able to provide at least initial therapy that may favorably alter the eventual outcome; and the condition is either life-threatening or could adversely affect the mission readiness of the SOF operator.
