MED-TAC Loadout Card · MTC-LC-004

EMS Trauma Response Loadout

Per-unit minimum across the response bag, unit stock, and the supervisor cache. One page.

Per response bag

• M — windlass limb tourniquets ×2 (one is a single point of failure). Hemostatic gauze ×2, plain packing gauze ×4, pressure dressings ×4.
• A — OPA set, NPA set, supraglottic airway, suction, per scope.
• R — vented chest seals ×4, two per casualty front and back. Decompression needle 14 ga × 3.25 in per protocol, credentialed providers only.
• C — vascular access set, pelvic binder ×1. TXA and blood products only where a program and medical direction exist.
• H — active warming ×1, casualty wrap ×1. Hypothermia is the leg most often skipped.
• Support — shears, marker, triage tags, casualty card.

Per unit and supervisor cache

• Second-line resupply module ×1 — enough to re-arm the response bag once without returning to base.
• Soft litter or drag device ×1.
• Supervisor / MCI cache for 10–25 casualties in individual pull packs, plus 50 triage tags and 10 wraps.

Placement and clinical doctrine

• High and tight, proximal third of the limb, never across a joint. Convert only when protocol criteria are met and only under protocol.
• Two seals per casualty. Roll the patient and check the back before sealing the front.
• Pediatrics. Most commercial tourniquets work on most children when applied correctly. The genuine limitation appears at extreme small limb circumference. Teach the escalation ladder: direct pressure, then pressure dressing or wrap, then tourniquet for true arterial bleeding. Do not teach that standard tourniquets do not work on children.
• Pressure wraps are an adjunct. They are not first-line massive hemorrhage control and must never occupy that slot in a curriculum.

Inspection and training floor

• Each shift — bag seal check and expiration sweep of first-out items.
• Monthly — full inventory against this card.
• After use — restock before the unit clears, not at end of shift.
• Initial and annual skill validation is hands-on and timed on a task trainer. A written quiz validates recall, not capability, and reviewers know the difference.
• Log every field tourniquet application: time applied, limb, device, converted or not, disposition. This is the dataset your quality assurance program lives on and almost no service has it.
• Run one supervisor-cache deployment drill per year using the actual cache, not a demo bag.

The five failures we find on audit

1. Skill validation replaced by a written test.
2. No application log — no quality assurance, no defensible record.
3. Pediatric hemorrhage taught as "tourniquets do not work on kids."
4. Pressure wrap taught as a first-line hemorrhage device.
5. MCI cache never opened between purchase date and incident.

Download the one-page PDF · Rescue task force (fire) version · Patrol supervisor version · Tactical team version