Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) is a set of best practice treatment guidelines for trauma care in the high-threat prehospital environment. These guidelines are built upon critical medical lessons learned by US and allied military forces over the past 15 years of conflict. They are appropriately modified to address the specific needs of civilian populations and civilian EMS practice. The guidelines are freely available to all interested stakeholders via the Committee for TECC website - www.c-tecc.org

The Committee for Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (C-TECC) was formed in 2010 to formally translate military trauma lessons learned into the civilian high threat prehospital community. The C-TECC is modeled after the highly successful Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (CoTCCC) - frequently credited as one of the major initiatives that has resulted in the lowest combat mortality rates in recorded history.

C-TECC brings together SME's from EMS, fire, law reinforcement and federal emergency bodies, as well as physicians from emergency departments, trauma centers and the military to develop evidence-based principles of high threat prehospital medicine. 

The TECC guidelines take into account the requirement of a civilian population. This includes paediatric, geriatric and special needs patients, as well as considerations for underlying medical conditions common in a civilian population (i.e. regular anti-platelet use), the characteristics and limitations of civilian EMS, and the varied types of threats that responders face. 

Military treatment guidelines were developed for a very specific purpose and population - fit healthy 18-40 year olds in a combat environment. They have been extremely successful, but these guidelines cannot be directly carried over into the civilian population without taking these differences into account. 

To find out more, visit the website of the Committee for Tactical Emergency Casualty Care - www.c-tecc.org