Jacksonville, Fla. — Medics and corpsmen assigned to Special Operations Forces (SOF) at the Joint Special Operations Medical Training Center (JSOMTC) in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina are receiving medical training on the Shands Jacksonville campus. Training includes basic life support, advanced airway management, patient assessment, trauma and emergency medicine. This elite group of soldiers started training at Shands Jacksonville on June 9 and will remain on campus until July 6.
This 4-week clinical rotation at Shands Jacksonville and with the City of Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department is just a portion of an extensive 23-week medical training program in which Special Operations Combat Medics (SOCM) are trained to provide primary medical support to operational units in remote or isolated environments around the world. These highly-skilled medics frequently find themselves in Third World countries facing a variety of patient care challenges and will be placed in situations where they will have the responsibility of being the sole medical provider. SOCM students receive training far more advanced than any paramedic.
This is the first time this type of training has taken place in Jacksonville. The JSOMTC chose Shands Jacksonville as a training location because it is an academic medical center, is the region’s only Level I Trauma Center and has the capacity to train large groups of students. SOCM students are training in various departments at Shands Jacksonville, including the emergency department, trauma center, pediatric emergency department, surgical intensive care unit and labor and delivery. Students also participate in TraumaOne rescue flights. Students will also be participating in this week’s city-wide emergency response drill.
For more information on this unique training program, please contact Amy Haddock, senior communications specialist, at 244-3184.