Remote Operational Medical Assessment AndManagement

Abstract

Serious voids exist in remote operational health care management creating an active global search for solutions to pressing medical readiness issues. Chemical and biological agents and new operational threat environments combined with a rapidly changing scientific database and scarce medical resources accelerate the demand for new tools and methods to enhance and strengthen remote medical management capabilities. Tools that distribute knowledge and capabilities to aid a range of first-responders in comprehensively evaluating a medical situation, guide the uniform collection and reporting of critical information, and provide a telemedicine clinical reach-back to medical experts for rapid point-of-care evidenced-based guidance are essential components of today's medical preparedness and response plans. Medical and non-medical first-responders are required to work closely with other types agencies and effectively respond in a coordinated fashion to a wide range of situations. Because of technical, management, organizational and cultural differences, there is little sharing between first-responder communities of training formats, techniques, curricula or standard operating procedures critical to providing a high-quality response. This paper will describe a framework and methodology being developed for a distributive, deployable, protocol-driven training system with integrated telemedicine capabilities to enhance and streamline the assessment and management of remote medical situations across military and civilian environments, nationally and internationally. This system could enhance the efficient and effective transfer of remote clinical and logistical information, expedite appropriate medical intervention, significantly leverage available medical resources and knowledge, reduce mortality, morbidity and the incidence of medical errors and reduce long-term injury related disabilities through rapid remote management of medical conditions. The developing system will assist in managing and responding to a range of foreign and domestic crisis situations by providing a highly coordinated and streamlined system for effectively orienting and training while functionally and culturally integrating the full range of firstresponder skill sets towards an international agenda.