title: An observational study assessing completion time and accuracy of completing the tactical combat casualty care card by combat medic trainees.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prehospital care documentation is crucial to improving battlefield care outcomes. Developed by United States Army Ranger Special Operations Combat Medics (SOCMs), the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) is currently fielded to deployed units to record prehospital injury data. This study documents length of time and accuracy of U.S. Army Combat Medic trainees in completing the minimum preestablished required fields on the TCCC card, establishing a baseline for point-of-injury cards.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective observational study in which U.S. Army combat medic trainees were timed while recording data on the TCCC card in both the classroom and simulated combat environment. We hypothesized that trainees could complete the TCCC card in less than 1 minute with 90% or greater accuracy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We enrolled 728 U.S. Army Combat Medic trainees in the study during May?June 2011 at Fort Sam Houston, TX. We observed an average TCCC card completion time of less than 1 minute with greater than 90% accuracy in the unstressed classroom environment but an increase to nearly 2 minutes on average and a decrease to 85% accuracy in the simulated combat environment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RESULTS imply that the TCCC card is well designed to quickly and accurately record prehospital combat injury information. Further investigation and future studies may compare other prehospital data collection methods with the TCCC card in terms of timely and accurate data collection.
authors: Sean P
authors: SP
authors: Therien
authors: James E
authors: JE
authors: Andrews
authors: Michael E
authors: ME
authors: Nesbitt
authors: Robert L
authors: RL
authors: Mabry
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004282:Documentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000193:education*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013997:Time Factors; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D014481:United States; D014857:Warfare