EM Research Embodying Community and Collaboration
As a member of the U.S. Army, Dr. Davin Combs developed a passion for working with emergency medical service providers such as fire rescue teams and law enforcement officers. His military service in security roles allowed him the opportunity to work closely with these groups, and at times, to develop and provide training. Fast-forward to today where he brought his experiences and ideas with him to his residency training in emergency medicine here at Carilion Clinic.
Dr. Combs spent a significant amount of time during the first two years of his emergency medicine residency working with his faculty mentor, Dr. Hayley Rose-Inman, to develop a training course for local community law enforcement officers to teach them basic life-saving interventions that are helpful in what’s known as ‘tactical emergency casualty care’ or TECC. This training was provided to more than 150 local law enforcement officers. He took this work a step further and collaborated with Nate Jones and the Human Factors team to create and execute a high-fidelity, simulated mass casualty incident (MCI) that included an active shooter threat element. Dr. Combs used this simulation even to test whether the START triage model or the National Health Service Ten Second Triage (TST) model is more appropriate for law enforcement officers to use under an active threat MCI event. Currently, the START model is the most widely used in the United States, but it may not be the best choice given the limit clinical background of most law enforcement officers. He hopes that the data from his research can be replicated at other sites and ultimately used to change practice standards for teams responding to MCIs.
The MCI simulation was held in June with Roanoke-based law enforcement and rescue squad participation. The study team has submitted this initial data for publication, and Dr. Combs is pursuing grant funding to expand this work to other sites, including a partnership with the University of Michigan Medical School and Dr. Florian Schmitzberger. Dr. Combs is also one of the Department of Emergency Medicine’s Chief Residents and will be applying to fellowships this fall, including the Virginia Tech Carilion Emergency Services Fellowship program.