ATMA is a not for profit association that represents the interests of Australians involved in the provision and development of tactical medicine across the spectrum of applications, from the general emergency services response to high threat incidents, right through to highly specialised providers in military, police and other special operations groups.
Our mandate is driven by our membership’s enthusiasm to continually improve and provide the highest level of first aid and medical care in austere, dangerous, remote and dynamic environments.
The development of improved capability to save lives is the underlying principle of ATMA and this is achieved through advice, advocacy, training, networking, collaboration and the annual Australian Tactical Medical Conference.
ATMA was born out of a recognition that a capability gap exists in Australia in the provision of the highest standard of tactical medicine. Whilst many individuals are working tirelessly in this field in their own pursuit of excellence, the heavy weight of bureaucracy has prevented open communication and synergism. As the effective, well drilled team is greater than the sum of it's parts, so too ATMA magnifies individual efforts to better protect the people of Australia and the lives of those who put themselves in harms way.
International models of tactical medicine have evolved significantly with the lessons learned from the battlefields of the Global War on Terror. Clinicians in the field recognised that in Australia we had a long way to go to catch up, and this Association provides a collective voice and pooled experience to accelerate this process.
The inaugural 2017 Australian Tactical Medical Conference brought together a dedicated group from Police Tactical Groups, Police specialised units and general duties, Military SOCOMD, Ambulance and Ambulance Special Operations, private industry and Hospitals. The conversation was started for the first time as a united force on information sharing and collaboration across the spectrum of high threat medicine. ATMA was formed in the last hours of the conference, and continues to build on this foundation.
The incredible work of organisations such as C-TECC, CoTCCC and SOMA have paved the way for widespread dissemination of evidence based high threat medicine through guidelines, training, conferences, online materials and research. The same model sees ATMA as the premier Australian source on tactical medicine.