EDUCATION & TRAINING
How Tactical Medicine Sensory Deprivation Training Benefits EM Residency Education
SAEM PULSE | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022
By Aaron Kuzel, DO, MBA, and Taylor Diederich, MD on behalf of the SAEM Education Committee
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In training law enforcement officers and members of civilian tactical teams, many programs provide instruction on providing life-saving medical care while employing sensory deprivation. Students are instructed to evaluate patients and perform clinical skills while under pressure and with the loss of a physical sense whether that be sight, sound, or touch. Often, in simulated drills, members of the team must identify casualties, identify their injuries, and attempt to exfiltrate those individuals to safety or higher levels of care; all the while having to overcome a deprivation. While the tactical elements may not be immediately applicable to emergency medicine residents, sensory deprivation or low resource training may provide some benefit to developing resident fine motor skills under pressure.
“…sensory deprivation or low resource training may provide some benefit to developing resident fine motor skills under pressure.” There are many ways to simulate sensory deprivation in a tactical environment. One that we have employed locally in Louisville as well as with emergency residents in Kaunas, Lithuania is a physical assessment and treatment of a wounded individual while blindfolded. Students in this course had to identify injuries through moulage
or the use of binder clips to identify injuries and either place a tourniquet or chest seal over the injury site, all while blindfolded. The blindfold attempts to simulate fog conditions in which officers may have to employ life-saving measures under tear gas or oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray (i.e., “pepper spray”) or in low-light conditions.