Trauma and Critical Care Teams

National Disaster Medical System

NDMS Trauma and Critical Care Teams (TCCTs) provide critical, operative, and emergency care to help people in the wake of natural and man-made disasters and public health emergencies. TCCT members are medical professionals deployed at the request of local authorities to supplement federal, state, local, tribal and territorial resources. Whether they are deploying in the wake of a tornado or responding to a terrorist attack, TCCTs provide people the life-saving or life-sustaining care the community needs.

Often deployed to catastrophic situations, TCCT team members work tirelessly in harsh conditions to provide medical care and support when it is needed most.

TCCT team members include

• Critical care physicians 
• Surgeons 
• Emergency medicine physicians 
• physician assistants 
• Nurse practitioners 
• Registered nurses 
• Nurse anesthetists 
• Paramedics 
• Respiratory therapists 
• Radiology technologists 
• Surgical technologists 
• Pharmacists 

TCCT Capabilities

TCCT teams deploy as 9, 10, 28, or 48-person units each with the capacity to conduct specific trauma related actions, including but not limited to:

• Providing critical care 
• Providing operative care  
• Providing emergency care 
• Providing advanced trauma life support 
• Supporting patient transport 
• Augmenting a Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) 
• Augmenting existing medical facilities 
• Establishing stand-alone field hospitals 
• Providing support and augmentation to the Department of Defense (DoD) Disaster Air Staging Facility (DASF) located at an Aerial Port of Embarkation (APOE)