Page 36 - JSOM Summer 2019

Cypress Creek EMS Basic Tactical Operational
Medical Support Course

Dan C. Godbee, MD, NREMT-P, COL, MC, FS, DMO, AL-ARNG

he Cypress Creek EMS (CCEMS) Basic Tactical Opera-
tional Medical Support (BTOMS) Course is an interna-
Ttional, 80+-hour, 8-day total immersion course in tactical
EMS. It is open to personnel with any medical background
(EMT Basic and above) to educate, train, and prepare them to
operate within a tactical law enforcement environment. This
course provides certification in the NAEMT’s Tactical Combat
Casualty Care (TCCC), as well as 91+ hours of CE/CHE credit
in the three disciplines of EMS, fire, and law enforcement.

The BTOMS Course is held twice a year and has drawn law en-
forcement and medical professionals from around the country
and the world, including Germany, Italy, Spain, England, Mex-
ico, Brazil, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, and Canada.
This course is the only Tactical EMS Training outside of Can-
ada that is officially approved by the Canadian government.
The BTOMS Course is not a SWAT school. It is a program to Photo courtesy of Norm Uhl.
teach medics how to operate in the tactical operations med-
ical support role—hence the use of “basic” in the name. All
Instructors are all currently operational—not “former” in any BTOMSC students practicing patient extraction techniques.
way—in public safety or military service or both. BTOMS is
medicine based and does not perform any live fire exercises. It BTOMS’s curriculum is broad based and includes canine med-
is also an excellent course for current practicing tactical med- icine, expanded scope of practice, dental, nutrition, etc. (see
ics to use as a refresher and continuing education course. The the BTOMS Course Curriculum [Figure 1]). The curriculum
BTOMS Course is more than just a training course. It is an ed- changes from class to class to keep up with standards and ad-
ucational product accepted for CE credits in EMS (Texas), fire vancement in tactics, techniques, and procedures; and (med-
(Firefighter I and II), and law enforcement (TCOLE/POST). ical) best practices. The classes run late in the evening with
The National Registry of EMTs accepts Texas CE credits. “days” running well into “night” hours on most days, thus
contributing to the intensity of the training. As seen from the
Total “immersion” during the course is achieved by having curriculum, this is not a typical 8-to-5 course with only 1 or
all lodging, food, and local transportation included in the maybe 2 days of “night” training; this class goes well past
tuition—teams travel together and live together. With some supper almost every night.
exceptions for local students, everyone (including instructors)
stays in the same hotel. Students room with another student Training is also comprehensive in that it accommodates dif-
and everyone eats breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Lunch and ferent levels of medical training—from minimal (i.e., pure law
dinner are cooked by CCEMS staff to improve the quality of enforcement or fire with limited medicine) all the way to phy-
the food and decrease down time. High-protein snacks and sicians (i.e., surgeons and emergency physicians). The teams
CERA hydration supplements are used throughout the day. are organized to accommodate strengths and weaknesses of
the participants and make the “team” as strong and functional
Team transportation is provided with the use of vans. Having as possible.
the entire class and instructors staying on site together keeps
the momentum going and helps keep the intensity of the train- Evaluations are done daily rather than once at the end to
ing as high as possible. It also contributes to team building and provide continuous feedback from instructors, students,
camaraderie and enables maximum use of time. team cadre, and evaluation of the curriculum. Aid bags and
Correspondence to medicaleditor@JSOMonline.org
COL Godbee is medical director for the East Baton Rouge Parish EMS and medical editor of the Journal of Special Operations Medicine.

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