The readiness of the Czech army members to provide first aid in a dangerous environment.

Abstract

This master thesis is focused on the issue of providing first aid in combat conditions according to the principles of Tactical Combat Casualty Care. The centerpiece is a chapter on the TCCC program, which is supposed to provide medical training for all soldiers and medical personnel. The TCCC program is designed to be simple and effective for all staff to use. Every member of the army should thus be able, even with limited material resources, to keep a soldier alive even in his most demanding conditions at least for the necessary time. The aim of this thesis was to map how the members of the Czech Army are prepared to provide first aid in a dangerous environment. The second objective was to map their knowledge in providing first aid in a dangerous environment, reflecting the effectiveness and efficiency of medical training of members of the Czech Army. Qualitative methods were used to achieve the objectives. The research part consisted of non-standardized questionnaires, which served to evaluate the medical training and to verify the knowledge of the Czech Army members in providing first aid according to the TCCC principles. The second part of the research was supplemented by semi-structured interviews with non-medical medical staff of the units. The results show that medical training does not fully comply with the current concept of training of units of the Czech Army and other documents. It is also evident from the research that members of the Czech Army should be educated more on the theoretical level in relation to the provision of first aid according to the TCCC principles, as the awareness of this issue appeared to be minimal. The obtained knowledge will be used both by unit medics leading medical training and by unit commanders who organise medical training and can thus avoid the mentioned deficiencies. Furthermore, the findings can also be used by all other members of the Army of the Czech Republic who are interested in the issue in question and want to find a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of information