coalition warrior interoperability demonstration (cwid) 2006
CWID is an annual event held by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff to test and evaluate new technologies that could improve information exchange among agencies. At CWID 2006, exercises were conducted in over 25 sites internationally.
RTMW was demonstrated in three US sites (San Diego, Colorado Springs, Dahlgren) as well as in Lillehammer, Norway. The system was tested under intensive international scrutiny and was proven to be extraordinarily effective against a thorough sequence of homeland security disaster exercises, including hurricane, pandemic, terrorist attack and dirty bomb scenarios. This was demonstrated by the fact that RTMW made the ‘U.S. CWID IT Standouts’ in the CWID assessment report.
performance
Rapid Triage Medical Workbench (RTMW), IT05.52, successfully demonstrated a medical triage software system for capturing information from mass casualties related to natural disasters, as well as chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high yield explosives (CBRNE) situational information.. RTMW assisted first responders and hospital triage workers with rapid identification, categorization, and sorting of disaster scene casualties based on severity of injuries. RTMW also demonstrated the near real-time entering, updating, and accessing causality information, aiding in medical and logistic decisions. In addition, RTMW authorized users at different care locations to access incident data on a need to know basis while simultaneously, safeguarding patients’ privacy information.
assessment level
Eleven warfighters evaluated Rapid Triage Medical Workbench through JDCAT questionnaire at the following sites: Camp Jorstadmoen, Lillehammer, Norway (1 warfighter), NSWC Dahlgren, VA (2 warfighters), SPAWAR San Diego, CA (4 warfighters), and USNORTHCOM Peterson AFB, CO (4 warfighters). All warfighters possessed various occupational backgrounds and had sufficient knowledge to operate and evaluate this trial.
technical support/training
Rapid Triage Medical Workbench on site training took place at USNORTHCOM Peterson AFB, CO. At NSWC Dahlgren and SPAWAR, training was conducted over the telephone; whereas, warfighters at Camp Jorstadmoen, Lillehammer, Norway received computer based training from the RTMW web site. All warfighters rated training good to excellent. The on-line help was rarely used since the training provided during training week was adequate for the warfighter tasks. Additionally, all warfighters received a trial playbook to support the MSEL events. Several warfighters rated the trial playbook very beneficial for clarifying tasks and events.
capabilities/findings
IMPROVE LOGISTICS DATA ACCESS, FUSION AND INTEGRATION AMONG COMMUNITIES OF INTEREST MSEL events demonstrated RTMW solutions that integrated and provided for effective logistics. All warfighters concurred that RTMW successfully demonstrated the ability for authorized users at different care facilities to view and access event information; such as incident location, in-field patient numbers, triage priority levels, and patients in transit. Warfighters created, edited, and updated information before forwarding to a care facility through the internet. Warfighters thought sharing/updating patient information and providing data to the right medial staff using RTMW was instrumental in improving the commanders’ and other non-governmental organizations (NGO) situational awareness.
IMPROVE INFORMATION ASSURANCE, HORIZONTAL DATA ACCESS, FUSION AND INTEGRATION AND IMPROVE VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION RTMW successfully met these objectives. RTMW developed software that allowed field personnel to enter and update patient data and medical information. These records were sent to care facilities, hospitals, relief agencies, NGOs, other organizations. These agencies gained record access as long as they held proper access permissions from RTMW: access levels were determined on a need-to-know basis, protecting patient privacy. Also, RTMW software provided capabilities to locate patients regardless of their location. Warfighters found this resource beneficial to maintain patient status situational awareness.
warfighter/operator prespective
Overall, all warfighters deemed RTMW successful for providing responsive solutions and effective mass casualties triage logistics, enhancing the commander’s ability to collaborate and disseminate information on patient locations. At the same time, RTMW kept patient medical information limited to a need-to-know basis. Once trained, all warfighters indicated RTMW was easy to learn, intuitive in design, and reliable throughout the demonstration. Warfighters supported fielding RTMW with some improvements, particularly adding a collaboration tool, and a tool to download large files.
warfighter/operator comments "Even as a lay person being introduced to RTMW, I feel I could understand this system with no problems. I really like it."
"The system walks you through very easily.”
"It worked perfectly and it is very user friendly."
"There are so many features to the program that I can not say what one I like the most. I do like the fact that it is easy to use."
"This is a tool that could help at all levels of command and control, and in the treatment and tracking of casualties during all hazard events."
"This needs to be explored further for potential employment in DOD and interagency use."
conclusions
RTMW’s software solutions allowed medical workers and first responder response teams to efficiency and effectively access a central data source to obtain casualty tracking and status information. RTMW technology promoted increased medical situational awareness supporting HLS/HLD agencies during natural and CBRNE disasters by sharing relevant data to emergency care personnel and field/central hospitals. Concurrently, relevant data was forwarded to command and control, NGO and other facilities overseeing such disasters. RTMW also provided control over information agencies, some of which only received name and location, while others received a detail patient medical synopsis. Most Warfighters using RTMW during CWID execution thought the trial’s software design and capabilities were well developed, but offered some recommendations as documented below. RTMW worked efficiently throughout the demonstration and warfighters thought the trail accomplished its objectives.
recommendations
Provide a feature allowing first responders to correspond with certified medical assistants for medical assistance.
Provide export capability from RTMW to Excel spreadsheets.
Create a batch file capability to group similar medical needs from a single incident.
Provide patient tracking capability from the field to medical care facilities.
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