OEI to Equip 90 US Air National Guard Sites with TCCS Pro Sims

With one of the largest single procurements of training simulators to date, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) will soon equip the U.S. Air National Guard (ANG) with ruggedized, high-fidelity human patient simulators. Beginning this September, Operative Experience, Inc. (OEI) will begin equipping 90 Air National Guard sites with high-fidelity Tactical Casualty Care Pro Series (TCCS Pro) simulators, designed to meet the latest Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) training requirements mandated by the DoD.

With the acquisition of high-fidelity TCCS Pro simulators, the ANG is committed to improving the quality of its casualty care training and is leading the way in meeting the requirements of the Total Force congressional mandate to train and prepare all airmen to treat injured service members in combat.

Significantly, guardsmen will train using both male and female TCCS models. OEI produces the only anatomically correct female simulator available for use in casualty care training. Military combat trauma training for female casualties has not kept pace with the growing number of women on the battlefield, and early studies indicate there may be a higher fatality rate for women wounded in combat than men with similar injury patterns. Being equipped with fully realistic, high-fidelity female simulators will provide the ANG with a leading advantage in training.

OEI’s TCCS Pro and its sister simulator, Prolonged Casualty Care Pro Simulator (PCCS Pro), are the only high-fidelity simulators on the market to offer complete casualty care training. Other unique features of TCCS include OEI’s Smart Limb technology with interchangeable limbs and wounds, high-fidelity human responses (independently blinking eyes, airway complications, pulsatile and venous bleeding from multiple wound sites) and a life identical circulatory system.

This capability allows modularity of the “healthy” mannequin to a variety of injury patterns to vary training evaluation iterations and achieve specific mechanisms of injury. The ruggedized, high-fidelity aspects allow for a single TCCS Pro to be utilized through the continuum of care from point-of-injury through enroute care to arrival at the military treatment facility.

“Realism is key to effective learning,” said Lou Oberndorf, OEI chairman and CEO. “The closer a practice event comes to the real thing, the more effective the trainee will be when it counts. It doesn’t get more real than TCCS Pro. Equipping its bases with the latest technology demonstrates the National Guard’s commitment to preparing every trainee for action. This investment in medical simulators is unprecedented among the services.”

By 2027, the total healthcare simulation market is expected to grow to $4.2 billion as reported in a healthcare simulation study by MarketsandMarkets.

OEI developed its TCCS simulators under a Small Business Innovation Research grant created to engage vendors in building a better patient simulator solution for the Department of Defense. The TCCS Pro follows protocol for Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC), utilizing the MARCH algorithm to prioritize triage and treatment necessary to saving lives on the battlefield: massive hemorrhage, airway compromise, respiratory distress, circulation, and hypothermia.

OEI partnered with defense industry supplier, ADS Inc. to help procure and fulfill the rollout of the program for the ANG.