Prolonged Field Care Podcast SOMSA '25 - Squaring the Foundations
May 28, 2025
Rick Caldwell, a 20+ year special operations medic, shares invaluable insights on medical education and prolonged field care. He highlights the critical need for quality over quantity in training and the importance of teaching critical thinking skills to medics. Caldwell emphasizes that combat medics must blend emergency care with humanitarian support, while addressing the growing complexities of modern battlefield medicine. He advocates for evolving training methods that prioritize clinical fundamentals and adaptability to better prepare medics for real-life scenarios.
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People Over Gear
- Humans and high-quality medics matter far more than fancy equipment or mass production.
- Hardware fails; resilient assessment and clinical thinking outlast gadgets.
Quality Beats Quantity
- Quality trumps quantity: one excellent medic outperforms many poor ones.
- Medics cannot be mass-produced and confident providers can't be created after a crisis.
Combat Medic Role Is Broad
- A combat medic must provide both combat and humanitarian support across trauma and illness.
- Triage must include non-trauma illnesses, not just battlefield injuries.
