Over the past 20 years, the public safety approach to high threat mass-casualty incidents (HT-MCIs), such as an active shooter event, has undergone significant changes. Law enforcement made the first significant change when it was decided that the police would no longer wait at the perimeter for specialized units to arrive and manage the high-threat incidents.This shift to a very aggressive initial response significantly decreased the time to bring the situations under control. The next important paradigm change involves fire and EMS personnel. The Rescue Task Force (RTF) concept, which is within the framework of risk/benefit analyses and combat-proven, evidence-based medicine, allows for point-of-wounding care, which saves crucial seconds and can extend the life clock of the injured until further definitive care is available. The RTF is about integrating tactic and allowing for a cohesive response to HT-MCIs. This course provides an awareness level of understanding of the RTF framework, explains how to integrate the RTF into the methods and tactics of an HT-MCI successfully, and how to adopt Tactical Emergency Casualty Care guidelines.
