Friday, August 30, 2024 | Download PDF
TATRC’s Medical Modeling, Simulation, Information & Visualization (MMSIV) team commenced its first off-site data collection event at our partner site located at the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence (MEDCoE) this past May. This major MMSIV milestone marks the first time that data has been collected for the Autonomous Casualty Care Porfolio / AutoDoc since the project kicked off. This feat was accomplished through the persistent partnership with our MEDCoE champion – Mr. Mike Eldred. MMSIV lead, Dr. Ericka Stoor-Burning, along with Deputy, MAJ Carl Ducummon, and Mr. Mark Spears (our newest edition to the team and local TATRC liaison in San Antonio), traveled to MEDCoE and under the caring wing of Mr. Mike Eldred, who facilitated introductions to key instructors at the Tactical Combat Medical Care (TCMC) Course at MEDCoE. One key introduction included MAJ John Yi, Chief, Tactical Combat Medical Care who helped organize a demonstration of what AutoDoc is and how we can work together to make data collection happen.
After the presentation, we were invited to set up our first data collection in the vicinity of their training lanes occurring the next day. Thus, on a rainy morning between two conex storage containers in early May, we had our first volunteer and successfully collected non-PII data. Once we gathered data from additional volunteers, we uploaded it into our RAPIDS data repository. After some trial and error and hands-on aide from Dr. Kajal Claypool, our partner at MIT Lincoln Labs, we were able to successfully upload and transfer the data back to our homebase at Fort Detrick.
The ripple effect from this key collaboration has created a wave of interest in participating with TATRC in our data collection with multiple others joining the effort. The positive impact from this monumental day will allow TATRC to collect the diverse data sets needed to develop rich, reliable algorithms for the success of our mission which is to fuse data, humans, and machines into trustworthy solutions that optimize warfighter performance in casualty care. The additional partners who have joined the AutoDoc data collection effort include: MEDCoE, Defense Medical Readiness Training Institute (DMRTI), Joint Special Forces Medical Training Center (JSOMTC), Air Force 59th Medical Wing (59 MDW) and the 166th Regiment - Regional Training Institute (4th BN 166th RTI). With these and more partners to come, we are gaining momentum to see the benefits of collecting this information. Some of the future benefits will aid in the future fight and allow algorithms to move beyond Autonomous Documentation and create a foundational data set and to use it to automate aspects of casualty care such as expediting forward surgical team dispatches, logistics/supply chain, and evacuation needs. Thank you to all of our partners for their support! We can’t wait to see how this effort will benefit military medicine in the future.
For more information on TATRC’s Data Collection efforts, contact Dr. Ericka Stoor-Burning at: ericka.l.stoor-burning.civ@health.mil.