Best of luck getting up and running. A few of our guys were at a seminar in your state a few years ago and met a bunch of good folks.
I don't know what your experience/training is... this is just my $0.02 - and a bit scattered, so I apologize in advance.
Review the concepts of TC3 and live by them - at least for what you carry as your entry gear. There are a number of sites with great info - I'll see what I can find.
You can pack the world and a kitchen sink into a bag, but it you routinely dump it at your entry point (or leave it in the truck) then it's useless to be conisidered as "entry gear". And if you never use it, is it worth lugging around?
Make sure
every member of the team has been trained in SABA (Self Aid, Buddy Aid) and has the tools to do so (chest needle, tourniquet (CAT or SOF-T) and a nasal airway). Get two of the TK's. For $60 in gear for every team member you can save a $100,000 officer - or at least stand a helluva lot better chance of doing so.
You'll probably wind up with IFAKS (which in reality will probably be BOK/VOK/WTF acronym) which will have the above plus an OALES dressing and a few other goodies you'll determine you need) on every team member, your entry bag (more of the same, plus more dressings, maybe a soft litter and some pain meds) and a bigger bag that gets left at the door
A cardiac monitor is well outside the scope of CUF or TFC... and will they expect you to work a code solo if you're the only medic, or steal a guy from the entry team to push or blow?
I'd make sure there's one somewhere outside the building and nearer than the ambulance parked by the CP, but I don't think I'd make it a priority. Likewise for a lot of your meds. The tactical AO is very different from the regular EMS arena.
Consider talking to your PMD and getting an XSOP (expanded scope of practice) for use at tactical incidents, including the ability for you to dispense things like immodium, tylenol, zantac and sudafed. As a team "doc" you're responsible for keeping the team operational before, during and after the incident, which can include guys getting indigestion or the runs. After all, we're dealing with incidents that can be measured in hours, not fractions thereof... another example demonstrating the difference between normal EMS and TEMS.
Two alternative options if your PMD is like ours (a cardiac MD who never progressed past the concept of EMT-P as heart attack responder): the first, consider seeing if the team would consider "adopting" an MD. Despite the propaganda from the pediatricians, there are a number of docs who would love to be the "team MD" and in return for going out on the range once a month would gladly issue and Rx for those OTC meds to be dispensed by a medic.
The second? Keep the OTC's in their original packs in a big ziplock, and simply tell the folks that need them to feel free to self medicate. Just keep tabs on who takes how much of what and when.
Consider getting some more specialized training. The better courses will provide info on team health, support and prevention during training and post incident as well as being able to function in the CUF/TFC modes.
CONTOMS was the original - at least from the .Gov's point of view - and is still seen as the standard by which other courses are judged. From what I understand there is no weapons handling or training at CONTOMS outside of the FTX at the end of the class. Since most of their client base comes from .Gov or .Mil they focus mostly on teaching the medical side, and leave the tactical to the student's home unit.
The
EMT-Tactical course from RTI is a good course, and an example of the ones that cropped up when CONTOMS lost its funding source and disappeared a few years ago. It was deemed a good enough replacement to become an authorized course for .Mil guys from all the different branches. It got written up in SWAT magazine a few years ago, and provides a good overall program, combining a focus on CUF/TFC with some basic SWAT tactics, although I'll admit to a mild bias - I took it last year.
The
International School of Tactical Medicine - AKA the "Old H&K school) - is reported to provide a similarly good focus on CUF and TFC, but with much more hands-on gun time than the RTI one. I heard it described as "the course where you send your docs to learn to shoot".
This just scratches the surface. There's a ton of info out there, but like anything else, the hard part is separating the wheat from the chaff and then deciding what fits your situation, skills and surroundings.
I'll be happy to share more, once I'm on a computer where I can actually see what I'm typing and have all my bookmarks from our brief stint with TEMS here in the City.
http://www.health.mil/Libraries/Presentations_Course_Materials/TCCC_2_care_under_fire_with_notes_2-17-09.pdf
North American Rescue's TC3 presentation
The
Maryland EMS Protocol (PDF) - check out page 347 for their TEMS protocol.