The move from paper to digital medical records, a transformation the new administration is striving for in the civilian healthcare industry, has been occurring on the battlefield for the past six years via MC4.
To continue transforming tactical medical business practices, MC4 needs to leverage Army partnerships, test and implement the latest technology and institutionalize MC4 use at home and abroad. To that end, I have set our program’s sights on achieving the following three goals:
- Sustain and enhance operational support
- Provide a “state of the practice” medical information system
- Expand and institutionalize use of the MC4 system
The use of MC4 in garrison creates a “train as you fight” model that better prepares and supports our medical units for MC4 use in the combat zone. Daily exposure to MC4 allows clinical personnel to hone their skills in charting patient care electronically and helps Army support personnel troubleshoot network issues that could potentially derail use of MC4 downrange. Commanders benefit through experience using MC4 to conduct medical command and control, also enabling medical surveillance by tracking disease occurrence, illness and treatment in the battalion aid station population.
MC4 will continue to evaluate the latest off-the-shelf technology for the next generation of systems, helping to reduce challenges caused by legacy hardware and software, and to meet emerging needs and requirements. The use of MC4 handheld devices originated from the need medics had to document point-of-injury care. We will continue to work with our partners at the AMEDD C&S, as well as industry, to find better technologies to meet the challenges of point-of-injury care.
Through ongoing testing efforts, some technology might never leave the test lab, while others have the potential to make significant impacts in treatment facilities. As always, we encourage suggestions from users on new tools and technologies. It remains critical that we implement new technologies without disruption to current operations.
Engraining MC4 in Army training venues will ultimately improve system use, user proficiency and data integrity—that equates to better decision making on the battlefield and better care for our war fighters. It will also reduce the dependency on MC4 training and support personnel, saving the Army resources by building a more self-sufficient Army tactical workforce enabled to meet the EMR, medical command and control and medical logistics missions.
Continue to follow this blog and The Gateway newsletter to learn about progress and impacts made toward achieving these goals.