Assessment of a medical regulation concept for MEDEVAC during military operations

Objectives

In order to reduce the waiting period before surgical treatment, the CORTIM project aims to develop a management system with the use of the NTIC system and operational radio network. To assess the benefits of a medical operational information system, we compared the current procedure (EVASAN) and the procedure of the CORTIM concept.

In EVASAN, evacuation of the injured soldiers is performed through mandatory stages of treatment or dispatching. Emergency categorization is made at surgical clearing center after first-level evacuation from the battalion first-aid post. Medical reports are written on the Field Medical Card (NATO format).

In CORTIM, the front unit medical officer collects medical data through a computer software application and transmits reports to the brigade surgeon who organizes MEDEVACs and can dispatch casualties directly to the specified field hospitals that are able to treat respective injuries.

Methods

During the large-scale manoeuvre of an armoured brigade, MEDEVACs of seven casualties were performed with EVASAN and CORTIM procedures. Each procedure had at its disposal three places in helicopters, and four places in ambulances. The medical chain included one Front Unit Medical Team, one Forward Surgical Team with one operating room, and one Field Hospital with three operating rooms.

The data collected were quality of information written on the Field Medical Card and waiting periods before surgical treatment (in minutes).

Results

On the Field Medical Card, only 54.5% of administrative and medical information is written, 70% of which with errors. With the medical electronic device, all the information required is available.

The compared waiting periods before surgical treatment are shown in Fig. 1. For 5/7 casualties, the CORTIM procedure and medical regulation reduced the waiting period before surgery. For three of them, the period was reduced from 220 min to less than 150 min.

Figure 1

Waiting period before surgical treatment.

Conclusion

In our experiment, using a medical electronic device improved the quality of medical information and the CORTIM procedure reduced the time period before surgery.