Wilderness and Rescue Medicine 7th Edition Jeffrey Isaac, PA-C and David E. Johnson, MD

Chapter 33: The Medical Role in Search and Rescue

Worldwide, most search and rescue missions are performed by volunteers. Teams range from loosely organized groups that come together only once or twice when needed, to highly skilled and well-disciplined teams that train regularly and run hundreds of missions a year. The work can be exciting, interesting, and rewarding. It can also be dirty, dangerous, and expensive. If you choose to get involve you will need a fair degree of physical and mental fitness, self-disci- pline, and enough time to become proficient in the necessary skills. Functioning as a SAR medi- cal officer requires solid field medical skills and a willingness and ability to act quickly and inde- pendently when needed. As we have emphasized throughout this text, it is often up to the medical officer to set the level of urgency and help develop a mission profile that keeps risk within the range of acceptable. Medical Roles In a large-scale disaster response or search and rescue operations, there will be several medical roles to fill, from field treatment to medical con- trol. By contrast, a small team on a limited mis- sion may field only one medical officer. Whatever the situation, and for any role to which you are assigned, you should know at a minimum who

you are working for, who is working for you, what you are doing, and how long you are expected to do it.

Search and Rescue

General Principles

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Medical Roles: • Medical leader • Triage officer • Hasty medical • Patient leader • Team “doc”

You should know: • Who you’re working for • Who’s working for you • What you’re doing • How long you’re expected to do it

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Incident Management System

Knowing something about the National Incident Management System (NIMS) will help you under- stand your role in the field. The system is used in one form or another in most fire, rescue, and disaster situations. The depth and complexity vary with the size and duration of the mission. The incident commander (IC) has responsibil- ity for the entire operation. Supervision of field operations, where most medical personnel are