Candace Pineda

This interactive trauma training is designed to strengthen prehospital providers’ confidence and competence in the rapid assessment and management of critically injured trauma patients using the MARCH algorithm framework. Focused on practical application and real-world operational challenges, this course combines evidence-informed trauma education with hands-on procedural skill development for high-risk, low-frequency interventions.

Participants will engage in case-based discussion and hands-on techniques focused on severe hemorrhage control, airway management, chest trauma interventions, and trauma resuscitation priorities. Faculty will share practical “tips and tricks” to improve procedural success, enhance critical decision-making, and reduce delays during time-sensitive trauma emergencies.

Special emphasis will be placed on maintaining competency in high-acuity, low-volume procedures such as surgical airway management, finger thoracostomy, and advanced hemorrhage control techniques. Participants will discuss strategies for deliberate practice, low-cost training methods, simulation integration, cognitive rehearsal, and trauma team preparedness to improve procedural readiness and patient outcomes.

This course is intended for EMS providers, paramedics, nurses, physicians, trauma staff, first responders, and prehospital clinicians seeking to advance trauma care skills and operational readiness in the out-of-hospital setting.

In resource-limited combat of future near peer war mass casualty scenarios, rapid identification of salvageable casualties requiring immediate intervention is critical. Prehospital needle decompression demonstrates high failure rates (58-64%) and is frequently performed based on subjective criteria, with only 30-48% of patients showing clinical response.(1) Similarly, identifying internal hemorrhage requiring blood products remains challenging in austere environments where hypotension is a poor indicator until >30% blood volume loss has occurred.(2) Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) offers 87-98% sensitivity and 99-100% specificity for detecting hemoperitoneum and can identify pneumothorax with greater sensitivity than chest x-ray.(3) We hypothesized that a focused three-view POCUS protocol could rapidly identify the minority of casualties requiring immediate decompression or blood products while avoiding unnecessary interventions in non-salvageable patients.