Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) has been designated by the U.S. Department of Defense as the military standard for battlefield trauma care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Fast and reliable blood collection is critical to emergency walking blood banks (WBB) because mortality significantly declines when blood is quickly administered to a warfighter with hemorrhagic shock. Phlebotomy for WBB is accomplished via either the "straight stick" (SS) or "ruggedized lock" (RL) method. SS comprises a 16-gauge phlebotomy needle connected to a blood collection bag via tubing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) guidelines recognize low-titer group O whole blood (LTOWB) as the resuscitative fluid of choice for combat wounded. Utilization of prescreened LTOWB in a walking blood bank (WBB) format has been well described by the Ranger O low-titer blood (ROLO) and the United States Marine Corps Valkyrie programs, but it has not been applied to the maritime setting.
Methods: We describe three WBB experiences of an expeditionary resuscitative surgical system (ERSS) team, attached to three nontraditional maritime medical receiving platforms, over 6 months.