During the last two months, I traveled throughout theater and visited many treatment facilities. I talked with more than 50 providers and learned how they use MC4 on the battlefield.
The biggest complaint I heard from users was the perceived inability to view historical patient data with the MC4 system. Many providers on the battlefield do not realize that they already have the tools they request at their finger tips. This tells me that MC4 is not doing enough to inform users of these capabilities. I made the same conclusion in last month’s article regarding informing users of system changes and improvements.
Users can view previous patient encounters generated in theater with the Theater Data Medical Store (TMDS). The Web-based application offers worldwide visibility and accessibility to wounded warriors’ deployed medical records.
Providers also have access to AHLTA Warrior, a VPN connection that offers read-only access into the clinical data repository to view a patient’s stateside medical history. Both methods of viewing historical patient data may help prevent redundant tests and treatments.
To increase TMDS and AHLTA Warrior use and awareness, I have instructed MC4’s technical support teams (TSTs) in theater to immediately contact every provider. I have placed the onus on the TSTs to educate the deployed user community on the capabilities of these two valuable tools, provide demonstrations and help users establish accounts with both programs.
We will also provide more tips on these tools on our Web site.