NURS 5404 Operational Readiness: Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCATT)
The goal of the Critical Care Air Transport Team (CCATT) Initial Course is to enhance the student’s current skills and knowledge to produce teams of physicians, nurses, and respiratory technicians who are ready to support the mission of Global Engagement. The CCAT TEAM concept is a key element in the reengineering process designed to create a more flexible, team-focused, responsive employment of our medical forces. CCATT provides a structured en-route care platform for the critically ill and injured whenever and wherever required. The 10 day course, conducted at the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM) at Wright Patterson AFB, OH, is designed to prepare Active Duty (AD), Air National Guard (ANG), or Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) commissioned officers and enlisted personnel to meet the wartime and peacetime missions of caring for critically ill and injured patients in the aeromedical evacuation environment. During the course, students will receive an introduction to the aeromedical evacuation (AE) doctrine and environment, altitude physiology, familiarization training with aeromedical evacuation aircraft and equipment, and concepts of critical care transport. Students will also obtain in depth overview of the CCATT mission, equipment, and Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) which will be utilized using high fidelity human simulation scenarios. Students will build upon previous physiology and pathophysiology content as well as prior course work and review and explore patient care concepts such as traumatic brain injury, burn management, lung protective ventilation, and en-route pharmacology. Other AE system level concepts such as crew resource management, patient safety, and infection prevention will also be delivered. Students receive readiness content that is aligned with Federal and/or Military Health System needs while expanding knowledge and clinical skills as they work within inter-professional teams. Students build upon prior course work in trauma care management and explore new concepts regarding combat casualty care, en-route care, inter and intra-theater patient movement, care coordination, and leadership in support of future austere, deployed, or humanitarian settings.