How can I get involved in Tactical Medicine?

How Can I Get Involved in Tactical Medicine?

1. Get educated on Tactical Medicine, which is used interchangeably with TEM, or Tactical Emergency Medicine. There are many educational sources on the ACEP website now and more to come that will be listed here soon. We will provide links and PDF downloads with detailed information, and several textbooks and multiple web sites that will enhance your awareness of what Tactical Medicine involves. Investigate training courses and attend what you feel is appropriate. Reach out and contact others who are experienced in this exciting subspecialty, and pursue tactical medicine in your own region.

2. Join the Tactical Emergency Medical Section - If you are a physician, there are two categories of membership. The first is a voting membership which requires physicians to both be an ACEP member and also pay the annual dues ($40 dollars) to be a TEM Section member. The 2^nd category of membership is an “Associate physician of the TEM Section” who is a Non-voting physician subscriber” who may join and attend the annual meeting, as well as access the special “members-only” section of this website. In order to be approved as an associate physician member, the following 4 requirements must be met:

• Complete the on-line application for becoming an Associate Member
• Pay annual dues, same as ACEP members, $40 dollars /yr.
• Obtain and submit a letter of reference from a current ACEP physician member, which simply states that you are a practicing or retired physician of good character and are a known entity from the community.
• Obtain and submit a letter of reference from a law enforcement officer or deputy from the community that you reside (within a 20-mile radius of your home address). This officer or deputy of rank of Sergeant or higher, which states you are a physician from the same community, and you have no felony history after a criminal database search confirms this. This requirement will include a background search of the criminal database, and all applicants must have no history of felony arrests or serious misdemeanors.

3. How do I get started in my local hometown or city?
Each tactical medical provider (TMP) has become involved in various ways since inception of tactical medicine. Fortunately, there are over 500 members in our section, many of who are actively providing TEM and are a good resource. So a good first step for newly-interested physicians is to search for and contact a local physician / nurse / PA / paramedic / EMT who is currently supporting tactical teams in your region. If there is none, then after getting educated about tactical medicine, including how to create a TEMS Unit, and many other topics then you may want to consider meeting with your community’s law enforcement leaders. The regional EMS Medical Director may be a good resource to consult prior to this step, but do not allow the political or personal views of the EMS Medical Director to block your efforts. Tactical Medicine can be politically charged, and if there is ‘bad blood’ between prior prehospital medical personnel and local law enforcement, then barriers may exist that may be difficult to overcome. The PDF download file has extensive information about tactical medicine: (PDF link COMING SOON)

4. Contact ACEP Tactical Emergency Medicine Members – COMING SOON- Select list of TacMed Mentors will be for “members only”
On the website, there will be a list of TEM Section members who have agreed to be listed as mentors or resources for newly-involved physicians. This list will have one or two mentor contacts for each state in the USA. Therefore these resources should be able to be contacted and can help answer any specific questions and assist your development as a tactical medical provider.