Combat Medical Technicians evacuating a casualty in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia

The Combat Medical Technician (Cbt Med Tech) is a soldier with a specialist military trade within the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) of the British Army. Image File history File links Medics. ... This article is about a military rank. ... The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

Role

The fully trained Cbt Med Tech is capable of:

• assisting with the management of surgical, medical and psychiatric casualties from the onset of the condition until the casualty is admitted to a hospital offering specialist care. This capacity is to include the immediate necessary first aid and other sustaining procedures required to hold a casualty for a limited period in a non-hospital situation
• undertaking the administrative procedures and documentation for casualties in field units, medical reception stations and unit medical centres, including those required for and during casualty evacuation, and the initial documentation of patients attending hospitals as outpatients or for admission
• carrying out these field and military skills required of an RAMC soldier employed in any active field medical unit (for example sanitation, erection of tentage, security)

The CMT has three career stages, beginning at class 3 and progressing to Class 1. Surgery Surgery is the medical specialty that treats diseases or injuries by operative manual and instrumental treatment. ... See drugs, medication, and pharmacology for substances that are used to treat patients. ... Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that studies and treats mental and emotional disorders (see mental illness). ... A casualty is a person who is the victim of an accident, injury, or trauma. ... For the record label, see Hospital Records. ... First aid is a series of simple, life-saving medical techniques that a non-doctor or layman can be trained to perform. ... CASEVAC is a shorthand word that means casualty evacuation. This can apply to injured soldiers or civilians, and is used to denote the emergency patient evacuation of injured people from a combat zone. ... E. Coli bacteria under magnification Sanitation is the hygienic disposal or recycling of waste, as well as the policy and practice of protecting health through hygienic measures. ...

Class 3 and 2 Standards

• Trained in anatomy, physiology and first aid.
• Has a general understanding of medical terminology and is capable of carrying out first aid in an emergency situation until expert medical assistance is available.
• Works under supervision to provide assistance to Medical Officers in field units and medical reception stations.
• Assists in setting up field medical units and is trained in medical fieldcraft including the use of radio equipment, navigation by foot or vehicle across country and field medical equipment.
• Capable of carrying out basic nursing procedures.
• Initiates and maintains casualty documentation and supply/equipment documentation.
• Recognises abnormalities in casualty observations, body appearances and consciousness levels.
• Trained in Army environmental health issues at unit level.

Human heart and lungs, from an older edition of Grays Anatomy. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Medical terminology is a process of accurately describing the human body and associated components, conditions, processes and procedures in a science based manner. ... Nursing is a profession focused on assisting individuals, families, and communities in attaining, re-attaining, and maintaining optimal health and functioning. ... Environmental health comprises those aspects of human health, including quality of life, that are determined by physical, chemical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors in the natural environment. ...

Class 1 Standard

• As for Class 2 and 3, but with additional training and experience.
• Provides health advice to non medical junior commanders.
• Has a good understanding of anatomy and physiology.
• Is able to take control of an emergency situatiion.
• Is trained in basic diagnostic techniques and able to report findings to medical services.
• Advises on basic field hygiene.
• Capable of advanced first aid and using advanced resuscitation techniques.
• Administers non-controlled drugs ordered by a Medical Officer.
• Administers drugs by oral route, inhalations, plus intradermal-, intramuscular- and subcutaneous injection
• Sutures simple wounds
• Maintains, or supervises the maintenance of, and indents for medical equipment
• Trains junior medical assistants

Additionally, at Class 1 the CMT is trained in the procedures and principles of Battlefield Advanced Trauma Life Support (BATLS), which includes Advanced Life Support, Cricothyrotomy and Thoracentesis. For other meanings of CPR, see CPR (disambiguation). ... The dermis is a layer of skin beneath the epidermis that consists of connective tissue and cushions the body from stress and strain. ... Intramuscular injection is an injection of a substance directly into a muscle. ... The subcutis is the layer of tissue directly underlying the cutis. ... Sutures are the stitches doctors, and especially surgeons, use to hold skin, organs, blood vessels and all other tissues of the human body together, after they have been severed in minor or major surgery. ... Advanced Life Support (ALS) is a treatment consensus for cardiopulmonary resuscitation in cardiac arrest and related medical problems, as agreed in Europe by the European Resuscitation Council, most recently in 2005. ... In cricothyrotomy, the incision or puncture is made through the cricothyroid membrane inbetween the thyroid cartilage and the cricoid cartilage. ... Thoracentesis (also known as thoracocentesis or pleural tap) is an invasive procedure to remove fluid or air from the pleural space for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. ...

Further Progression by Rank

• At the rank of Corporal, the Cbt Med Tech also supervises and controls medical assistants working in medical unit departments
• At the rank of Sergeant or Staff Sergeant, the Cbt Med Tech takes charge of a department, accounting for equipment and carrying out the administrative duties for soldiers within the department.
• At the rank of Warrant Officer, the Cbt Med Tech supervises a number of departments, and maintains discipline and morale within those departments, providing for the efficiency and effectiveness of the unit.

Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries, police forces or other uniformed organizations around the world. ... Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organisations around the world. ... United States Military Staff Sergeant insignia (U.S. Air Force) Staff Sergeant is the fifth enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force, just above Senior Airman and below Technical Sergeant. ... Two Bermuda Regiment Warrant Officers. ...

See also

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace. ...

Battlefield medicine An illustration showing a variety of wounds from the Feldbuch der Wundarznei (Field manual for the treatment of wounds) by Hans von Gersdorff, (1517). ...

Combat Medic A combat medic is a trained soldier who is responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. ...

References

• Army Form B6360 Rev 10/99
• British Army Site

External links

• Army Medic Home Page