NATO Patient Evacuation Coordination Cell (PECC) PILOT Course

May 31, 2012 2:11 PM

Together with the Bundeswehr Medical Service, the NATO Centre of Excellence for Military Medicine (MILMED COE) organized the pilot of the NATO Patient Evacuation Coordination Cell (PECC) Course on 14-18 May 2012 in the Gäubodenkaserne, Feldkirchen, Germany.

The aim of the course is to provide knowledge and exercise skills required to effectively work in a PECC and to enable participants to achieve situational awareness in a multinational operational environment. By attending this course students will have a comprehensive picture of the NATO medical support system in multinational operations and they will understand functions, responsibilities and tasks of the PECC in a NATO multinational operational environment. Furthermore they will know how, where and when to collect and manage required information to achieve situational awareness to support the PECC functionality.

Both theoretical and practical elements are included in the course curriculum. After two and a half days of theoretical classes familiarizing students with the principles, structure and functioning of a PECC, participants can improve their skills by working in a simulated multinational PECC scenario. During the table top exercise they work in teams and under pressure similar to real life situations in which they have to organize the medical evacuation of the wounded/patients. One of the simulators is a PECC room just like in reality: fully equipped with military telecommunication systems, connected to a simulated Joint Operations Center (JOC) and its subordinates such as MedOps and AirOps. The other simulator is a computer supported military communication network simulating communication among the above-mentioned players.

This course is targeted to all personnel required to have knowledge of PECC tasks and function in a national/multinational operational environment including all personnel planned to be deployed as a member of a PECC or medical staff in a NATO/EU/UN or other mission.
The course is planned to be organized twice a year, in spring and in autumn.
At the pilot, 12 students arriving from Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy and The Netherlands attended classes provided by an international team of lecturers coming from Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy and The Netherlands.

At the end of the pilot, the course will be evaluated both by the lecturers and the participants – among others comment forms provided by the students will be analyzed – helping MILMED COE to improve and adjust the course accordingly if necessary.