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Active Shooter: Run, Hide, or Fight?

Feb 24, 2025

In this discussion, Mike Shertz, an emergency physician and former Green Beret medic, delves into the harsh realities of active shooter situations in medical settings. He highlights the critical importance of recognizing early signs of danger and making quick, decisive choices. The moral dilemmas of staying to help versus fleeing are explored, alongside tactical survival strategies: run, hide, and fight. Shertz insightfully addresses how medical professionals can balance personal safety with their duty to patients during chaos, preparing them for high-stakes crises.

31:56

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Episode guests

Mike Shertz

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Quick takeaways

Recognizing early warning signs of an active violence situation is crucial for healthcare professionals to make life-preserving decisions swiftly.

The 'run, hide, fight' approach highlights the importance of prioritizing personal safety while navigating moral dilemmas during active shooter incidents.

Deep dives

Understanding Active Violence Situations

Active violence situations can escalate quickly, making it critical to recognize early warning signs. A change in the environment, such as abnormal noises or aggressive behavior, indicates that something may be wrong. Healthcare professionals must be vigilant, especially in settings like emergency departments, where they may transition from routine to crisis mode in a matter of moments. This heightened awareness is essential for deciding whether to remain on site or prioritize personal safety.

Intro

4min

Decisive Actions in the Face of Threat

2min

Navigating Violence: Healthcare Amid Crisis

10min

Surviving an Active Shooter: Run, Hide, Fight

6min

Surviving Confrontation: Strategies in Healthcare Settings

3min

Responding to Active Shooter Scenarios

6min

Violence has a cadence, a rhythm that disrupts the normal flow of life. When an act of violence erupts, the first sign is often a sudden, unexplainable shift in the environment—an eerie silence, a heightened energy, or a gut feeling that something is wrong. But when does that uneasy feeling cross the threshold into immediate danger? In this episode, we explore the critical decision points in an active violence situation in the healthcare/hospital setting, the moral and ethical dilemmas of medical providers staying versus escaping, and tactical strategies for survival. Finally, we break down the "run, hide, fight" approach and how to act decisively when every second counts.

Guest bio: Mike Shertz, MD is an emergency physician who spent 13 years as a Green Beret and a Special Forces medic. He is the founder and purveyor of Crisis Medicine, which teaches tactical casualty care to medical professionals. Check out this video that we did together in 2019 on how to place and remove a tourniquet and this one on how to pack a gunshot wound with combat gauze.

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We Discuss:

Recognizing an Active Violence Situation
Moral Dilemmas: Stay or Escape?
Perspectives on Risk and Response
Tactical Survival: Run, Hide, Fight
Post-Shooting Medical Response

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