Successful Medical Emergency Training

The aim of the practice was to establish a real “chain of survival" within a training and medical emergency exercise where the personnel that are not assigned to the force protection units can work together with the specialists of the medical service. They wanted to build an effective cooperation both inside the barracks and in a civilian environment between the “laypeople" first responders and the medical staff.

The fictitious situation involved an expert who got electrocuted while trying to fix an electric circuit, and suffered a cardiac arrest (with pulseless electrical activity, PEA) in consequence. After arriving on the scene and turning off the power to the source of the danger, the first responder – a logistician –found the victim unresponsive. He notified the Medical Center of starting to provide basic life support (BLS) with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The medical service without doctors/emergency medical technicians (EMTs) arrived on the scene in a couple of minutes and continued to treat the patient by instructing the first responder.

The soldiers taking part in the emergency training session have brushed up on their skills that are required for both (basic/advanced) levels of life support. Acting on the instructions given by Capt. Attila Hardi, the EMT officer of the HUN PRT-11, the designated medical emergency staff carried out the procedures by taking into account the valid professional medical protocols matching their life support skills level.

In his after action review, Col. Dr. Romulusz Ruszin, the commander of the HUN PRT-11 pointed to the high training standards of the Medical Center. All in all, this has been an exemplary emergency response process, during which the soldiers treating a patient with sudden PEA arrest were able to make full use of the basic/advanced life support algorithms recommended by the European Resuscitation Council (ERC).

(HUN PRT-11 EMT officer)