Efficacy of the Mnemonic Device “MARCH PAWS” as a Checklist for Pararescuemen during Tactical Field Care and Tactical Evacuation

Philadelphia, PA

Background: The application of TCCC represents evidence-based medicine to improve survival in combat. Over the past several years, USAF Pararescuemen (PJs) have expanded the mnemonic device “MARCH” to “MARCH PAWS” for use during tactical field care and tactical evacuation. It stands for massive bleeding, airway, respiration, circulation, head and hypothermia, pain, antibiotics, wounds, and splinting. We undertook this performance improvement project to determine the efficacy of this device as a treatment checklist.

Methods: The mission reports of a sixteen PJs’ combat rescue deployment to OEF from January through June 2012 were reviewed. The triage category, mechanism of injury, injury, and treatments were noted. The treatments were then categorized to determine if they were included in “MARCH PAWS”.

Results: The recorded data for missions involving four hundred sixty-five patients comprise the study. 45%, 48% and 7 %, were in Category A, B and C respectively (urgent, priority, routine). 55% were battle injuries (BI) and 45% were non-battle injuries (NBI). All treatments for BI were accounted for in MARCH PAWS. Only 9 patients’ treatments with NBI were not in MARCH PAWS.

Conclusion: This simple mnemonic device is a reliable checklist for PJs, corpsmen, and medics to perform tactical field care and tactical evacuation during combat operations, as well as care for non-combat trauma patients.