Customer Reviews

Tactical Emergency Care: Military and Operational Out-of-Hospital Medicine

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

These two clowns have authored what must be the WORST reference to ever be produced on military/tactical medicine. They should be ashamed. Not only is some of the information completely wrong (the entire ballistics chapter), most of it is completely irrelevant. As someone who has spent more than 1/2 of his 10 year military career in Spec Ops medicine I find this book insultingly stupid and a waste of good $. Here's a news flash for the authors: not all bullets tumble on impact! Moreover, if you have the time to figure out the "ideal" carry, you're not in a gunfight and should contemplate an alternate transportation method. You have obviously never moved a wounded teammate over broken terrain for any length of time or distance. If you're going to write about it, at least get some first hand knowledge of what is required to do the job correctly. DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY ON THIS ABORTION. Try "Ditch Medicine," "Where there is no doctor" or Paul Auerbach's "Wilderness Medicine" handbook for accurate and useful info.

As a operational medical provider and later physician, having served in combat, civilian TEMS, and international disaster and remote medicine for 25 years, I can say without hesitation that this 'text' is a useless rehash of standard CONUS urban EMS and outdated and abandoned military medicine concepts. It reflects none of the critical lessons learned since Gulf 1, nor our changing understanding of how people die, and live, in operational and resource limited settings.

Many of the facts are simply wrong, wrong when the text was written, and even more so today.

The suggested solutions show no evidence that the authors have any real appreciation for the second by second difficulties, change in priorities, and realities of limited resources that actually characterize 'military and operational out-of-hospital medicine.'

If you think the topic is wholly encompassed by helicopters and ambulances at your beck and call, care under white lights, and someone else to do your carrying and grunt work, this book is for you.

If you are looking for solutions to managing an officer with a heart attack while pinned down behind a barricade for 6 hours with the resources you have on your tac vest, managing a pelvic GSW with a field transfusion under NVG's, or coordinating the evac of a trooper down a mountain... in other words, real operational medicine rather than sanitized urban CONUS EMS medicine in BDU's... look elsewhere.

tho re-issued in 1999 (with corrections), this book is not very well edited. For example, the index is often off by a couple of pages, figures are miss-captioned, & I'd love to be there when the unsuspecting reader applies eucalyptus oil instead of eugenol to your toothache. No doubt a fine text in a classroom situation with a good instructor, but on its own merits, leaves much to be desired. A bit out-of-scope for entry-level EMS personnel wishing to 'expand their knowledge', but the chapter on ambulatory care, for example, is hoplessly 'in-scope' compared to books like 'ditch medicine', 'special forces medical handbook', 'barefoot doctor's manual' or 'where there is no doctor'. And $... ???? Textbook price reminds me of college.

I have prior experience with "Tactical Medicine" through my service within the military, and as a Swat Team medic and I would have to say that there's nothing "Tactical" about this book whatsoever other than the picture on the cover-Save your money! It wasn't worth the hard earned money that I spent on it, Don't make the same mistake that I made and by this "Tactical" book!

This was a good read. It was the textbook for the Tactical Medic course I was in. Didn't really get a chance to read it at the course, but since then have gotten into finishing it.

Dr. De Lorenzo and Mr. Porter have written a very readable product on operational medicine. This is an area of medical practice that begs for more documentation, and this text is a good start. Although the information contained in the text leans heavily to the military operational side, there is a great deal of information useful to civilian Tactical services. Some of the opinions are a little controversial, but the authors take a stand and attempt to justify their opinions. Topic areas such as laser and microwave injuries are not available in other sources. The approach taken by these authors is very practical and useful from a clinical point of view. This book is a valuable addition to any emergency physician or paramedics library. I hope to see further editions with improvements.

Excellant job of tying civilian emergency medicine to military or tactical emergency medicine. Close relationships in these areas will help the learning process for all persons. I am a civilian Paramedic, newly enlisted in the medical field of the military and found the book to be very easy to read and can be adapted to all forms of emergency medicine. The book was easy to follow and understand.

Excellent textbook. Up-to-date, succinct and accurate, particularly for the military operator. Has value for civilian tactical medics, too. Techniques are current and reflect the authoritative refrences that are included at the end of each chapter. Strengths include the chapters on nuclear, biological and chemical casualties. The main weakness is the focus on military medics (this is the intent of book, according to the Forward and jacket). A must buy for anyone in the business!

This book is a blend of military medicine, tactical (as in law-enforcement/SWAT) EMS and state-of-the-art prehospital care. It achieves its stated goals of bringing the best of all these worlds to the medics in the trenches. Advanced techniques such as intubation and transport medicine are well-covered, while basic techniques such as manual carries are not overlooked. Particularly helpful are the sections on NBC/WMD, medication use and preparing patients for long transport.

Highly recommended for any emergency care provider desiring an in-depth look at tactical care.