Tuesday 4 October 2016

ARTERIAL TOURNIQUETS for Police Officers, Law Enforcement and Other First Responders




A month ago, I was contact by TacMed Australia. I was asked if I could read and review an E-Book that would be going public on 10 October 2016. I enthusiastically agreed to this request as I was selected because I am an experienced tactical medicine practitioner, instructor and proponent.


 'ARTERIAL TOURNIQUETS for Police Officers, Law Enforcement and Other First Responders' is the definitive primer in the civilian integration of tourniquets into tactical or mass casualty care. This is a controversial subject that has met much dogmatic resistance from some civilian clinicians and emergency medicine professionals.

The author is Dr. Dan Pronk is a decorated Australian SOF doctor with four combat tours in Afghanistan. He has served as Australia's representative for the CoTCCC and the NATO SOF Medical Expert Panel. He has succinctly distilled his experience and knowledge into this easy-to-read primer.

I thought the subject matter was approached in a logical, informative manner using peer reviewed evidence without becoming heavily academic. It does not get bogged down in format and annotation and become dry reading. There are multiple diagrams and pictures that close the loop on concepts quite well. Due to the E-Book format, these pictures can be zoomed in on for better viewing. There are, also, hotlinks to videos that demonstrate theory in practice. Another thing that cannot be done in a print format. It is has been broken down into fourteen chapters with the last chapter being references. As an academic, the references are worth the price of admission.

Having some experience instructing Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) and Combat First Aid (CFA), I personally found Chapters Eleven: The Importance of Reality-Based Training and Chapter Twelve: The Importance of Command-Driven Medical Training to be the most satisfying. 

I disagree with one thing about this E-Book. I am a proponent of civilian everyday carry of arterial tourniquets.The title of this E-Book could lead many to think this book would be of no use to civilians. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

I highly recommend  'ARTERIAL TOURNIQUETS for Police Officers, Law Enforcement and Other First Responders' for anyone who wish to learn about proper tourniquet application or as part of program implementation.

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