The Need for Casualty Care Decision Support in Civilian and Defense Sectors

Trauma effects the lives of many people around the world; cases may include people involved in a car crash right through to military personnel injured on the battle field. Each situation requires different levels of care and the diagnosis and treatments administered play a large role in the recovery of the trauma victims. In such events it is vital to provide the correct level of care with high efficiency and with minimal errors. However these fast paced situations lead to stressful environments contributing to errors in patient care leading to detrimental consequences of morbidity. Computerized decision support systems have been introduced into the medical industry which have greatly improved patient recovery in trauma care, however such systems are primarily targeted for use in well-established medical facilities. The time it takes to transport an injured victim at the scene to a medical facility also plays an important role in the recovery process; by introducing optical head mounted display systems, remote off site field support can be provided which can enhance effective medical advice offered to both inexperienced through to properly trained medical staff prior, during transport and upon reception at a medical facility. This device is expected to greatly improve the recovery phase of trauma victims and reduce errors in patient treatment and diagnosis both in and out of hospital care.