The Gateway

If a chemical, biological or nuclear event takes place in the U.S., according to our records Army responders will be able to chart medical care and restock supplies electronically. That is, as long as the generators fire up to power the laptops and servers.

Last month, users gained valuable hands-on experience to electronically notate patient care and order medical supplies during two exercises, Operations Vibrant Response and Global Medic. Incorporating MC4 into scenarios and field exercises strengthens a unit's mission readiness, while preparing users for future missions.

Active duty, Reserve and National Guard units utilized MC4 systems during Operation Vibrant Response, a two-week disaster relief scenario conducted at Camp Atterbury, Ind., and two nearby locations. The 448th Medical Logistics (MEDLOG) Company provided support for the exercise. Because the unit trained on MC4 systems one month prior, they were online and ready to fulfill class VIII orders within one hour of their arrival at the exercise.

Global Medic tests the operational readiness of Reserve medical units. Throughout the week-long exercise conducted at multiple locations throughout the U.S., clinicians used MC4 systems while being immersed in live and simulated, battle-focused scenarios.

As with the relief efforts for JTF-Katrina and Haiti, it's exercises like these where people come to appreciate the store-and-forward capability of MC4 in low to no-communication areas.

Since 2007, agricultural specialists from the National Guard, also known as Agribusiness Development Teams (ADTs), have been working with Afghanistan farmers to help the local population become agriculturally self-sufficient.

ADT members, who have expertise in farming, raising livestock and cultivating natural resources, are accompanied by medics who administer care in the field. These medics are now using MC4.

Today, MC4 fields systems to ADTs and trains their medics on how to digitally notate patient care via MC4. By arming these medics with the tools and skill sets at Fort Hood, Texas, prior to the team's deployment to Afghanistan, we're creating another breed of Army EMR system users on the front lines.

Point-of-injury medical data recorded by first responders is a critical piece of a Service member's medical history. The data provides key information for clinicians throughout the continuum of care, informs research for the development of material solutions designed to improve Soldier protection and improve trauma care, as well as validates future claims for VA medical benefits. While critically important, initial battlefield care is rarely recorded.

First responders and medics have their hands full treating wounded warriors before they're medevaced to the nearest treatment facility. At best, medics use a grease pencil to write notes on tape attached to the injured Soldier or, in some cases, directly on the Soldier. Obviously, this information never makes it into the Soldier's medical history.

To eliminate this documentation vacuum, MC4 is working with military stakeholders to test hands-free devices to capture point-of-injury care. At the forefront of this effort are digital voice recorders. The devices must overcome the challenge of minimizing battlefield noises while preserving the human voice. Also, the unstructured recording needs to be converted into a structured, mineable patient note and be compatible with DOD EMR systems, including MC4.

After testing the hands-free voice recorders in simulated battlefield conditions, Army medics plan to field-test prototypes to determine the feasibility of use by medics and first responders in real-world situations. A poster, developed for the Advanced Technology Applications for Combat Casualty Care Conference in Tampa, Fla., describes this hands-free EMR effort.

I'll continue to provide updates in future blogs of our involvement of the research process with this endeavor, as well as our continued efforts with the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).