Page 112 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Fall 2014

incomplete data were excluded. Analysis was performed Figure 3 Patient chief complaints.
on the 254 charts that met inclusion criteria for the
study. Figure 1 displays the breakdown of all patients by
type. Nearly half (114; 44.9%) of patients encountered
during the study period were law enforcement officers,
followed by suspects (83; 32.7%), then bystanders (53;
20.9%), and, last, ATF-owned dogs (4; 1.6%).

Figure 1 All study patients by type.

A total of 227 separate clinical interventions were per-
formed during the study period. The most common in-
tervention was wound care (61; 26.9%), followed by
control of bleeding with direct pressure (43; 18.9%) and
application of heat or cold packs (25; 11.0%). All of the
interventions performed are displayed in Table 1. Of a
total of 111 medications administered during the study
period, the most common were ibuprofen (28; 25.2%),

When stratified by law enforcement incident type, high- Table 1 All interventions by type
risk warrant service was associated with one third (85;
33.5%) of the ATF medics’ clinical encounters. The next Interventions Number Percent
most common incident type was training (58; 22.8%), Wound care: cleaning/bandage 61 26.8%
followed by vehicle takedowns (28; 11.0%), and general Bleeding controlled with
medical encounters (27; 10.6%). The complete break- direct pressure 43 18.94%
down of all incidents associated with patient encounters Heat/cold packs 25 11.01%
is displayed in Figure 2.
Fluid bolus 1000mL 23 10.13%
Figure 2 Incidents associated with patient encounters. IV line placed 14 6.17%
Fluid bolus 500mL 12 5.29%
Oral rehydration solution 10 4.41%
Oxygen: nonrebreather 8 3.52%
Respirations with BVM 5 2.20%
Splint applied—upper extremity 5 2.20%
Spinal immobilization 4 1.76%
Decontamination 3 1.32%
Oxygen: nasal cannula 3 1.32%
Passive rewarming 3 1.32%
Airway placed—nasal airway 2 0.88%
Airway placed—King airway 1 0.44%
Bleeding with hemostatic agent 1 0.44%

The most common chief complaints of patients encoun- CAT tourniquet applied 1 0.44%
tered were musculoskeletal pain/injury (57; 22.4%) and Defibrillated 1 0.44%
wounds/lacerations (57; 22.4%), followed by heat ill- Splint applied—lower extremity 1 0.44%
ness (17; 6.7%), then gunshot wounds (14; 5.5%) and Wound closure: skin adhesive 1 0.44%
medical evaluations (14; 5.5%). Figure 3 displays all
chief complaints in this series. Total interventions 227

104 Journal of Special Operations Medicine Volume 14, Edition 3/Fall 2014