Medics in the Marine Corps and Navy have a new way to train with the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TC3) simulator developed by Engineering & Computer Simulations of Orlando, Florida. The simulator complements course training in reinforcing the lessons learned.
The simulator puts the user in the shoes of a medic in Afghanistan and presents various scenarios from a first-person perspective. In the demonstration, the medic was following behind his team when they came under attack. The threat was neutralized, at which point the user had to come in to survey the scene. One man was spurting blood rather alarmingly from his neck. A pressure dressing was applied, and after checking his pulse an IV was started. The next patient had a traumatic amputation of his forearms and was screaming and writhing in pain. After some calming words from the the user, the patient calmed down and a tourniquet was applied. Eventually, after all friendly and enemy combatants were accounted for and somewhat stable transport was called in, the mission ended.
Feedback at the end of the mission let’s you know if you did an adequate job, or it chastises you for actions you either did or didn’t commit, and the system also refers you to the appropriate educational material for review.
The simulator looked pretty cool and seemed like it could actually be fun. Early research has shown that the simulator was more effective that simple multimedia presentations in younger users. More research studies are on the way. An included mission editor allows instructors to tailor simulations and lessons to their curriculum.
Product page: Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TC3)
