Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC)

Developed by NAEMT’s Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) Committee, the TECC program is based on the guidelines from the Committee on Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (Co-TECC) and the Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) program. TECC uses lessons learned from our military and applies them to the civilian world of tactical medicine. 

This 16-hour course covers topics designed to decrease preventable death in the tactical situation.  Topics include: Hemorrhage control; surgical airway control and needle decompression; strategies for treating wounded responders in threatening environments; caring for pediatric patients; and techniques for dragging and carrying victims to safety. 

At the core of the TECC program are three distinct phases that have been well-proven by TCCC-trained personnel in the war against terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. The phases are as follows:  

• Direct Threat Care
  Care that is rendered while under attack or in adverse conditions.

• Indirect Threat Care
  Care that is rendered while the threat has been suppressed, but may resurface at any point. 

• Evacuation
  Care that is rendered while the casualty is being evacuated from the incident site.  

TECC focuses on the medicine during these phases of care and provides guidelines for managing trauma in the civilian tactical or hazardous environment. While TECC has a tactical slant, it takes an all-hazards approach to providing care outside the normal operating conditions of most EMS agencies, such as responding to a mass casualty or active shooter event.