A medical assessment algorithm for automated remote triage

Abstract

Ascertaining the medical status of soldiers deployed in the battlefield is essential for medical and strategic decision-making. The diagnostic and treatment methods used in the battlefield are currently suboptimal due to limited field resources and communication mechanisms. The system described herein is designed to remotely assess the medical status of deployed soldiers to augment resources of the medic, promoting more efficient and timely treatment of battlefield injuries. Key components of this combat casualty care system are an intelligent mobile agent information management network, a sensor capable of collecting pertinent physiological data, an assessment and alert algorithm, an ad hoc wireless routing system, and a user interface. The focus of this paper is on the development and preliminary evaluation of our medical model and assessment algorithms, which were implemented using hard-coded rules and a fuzzy logic approach. We discuss results of our initial simulations, the limitations of our medical model, and present a strategy for testing and improving different implementations of our model.