Prolonged Casualty Care for the Layperson

Session Description: In the irregular warfare environment, access to medical facilities or professionals is likely to be restricted. It is very likely that individuals with little or no medical training will be called upon to care for injured casualties. From experiences in the World Wars to the current conflict in Ukraine, there is ample evidence that many casualties will not have access to professional medical help for hours to days from injury. In conventional conflict, all service member trauma training can bridge this gap, but in IW, it may be necessary to leverage civilians. It is imperative to equip the civilian layperson with the capability to respond and provide care. Initiatives such as “Stop the Bleed” have demonstrated success in equipping the layperson to respond to trauma. Prolonged Casualty Care (PCC) for the Layperson is the “what’s next” after addressing individual life threats. This session will describe current efforts to provide civilian layperson resources to confidently intervene in PCC scenarios.