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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