Virtual reality and telepresence for military medicine

Abstract

For decades, warfighters have been putting in place a sophisticated "digital battlefield", an electronic communication and information system to support advanced technology. Medicine is now in a position to leverage these technologies to produce a fundamental revolution, and the keystone is the digital physician. Today nearly all information about a patient can be acquired electronically, and with the new technologies of teleoperation and telesurgery we can provide remote treatment and even surgery through telemedicine. The following framework for military medicine will leverage upon the current electronic battlefield. A personnel status monitor (PSM) will have a global positioning locator to tell the position of each soldier and a suite of vital signs sensors. When a soldier is wounded, the medic will instantly know the location of the soldier, and how serious is the casualty. This will permit the medic to locate the most critically wounded soldier. Once stabilised, he will be placed in a critical care pod, a fully automated intensive care unit in a stretcher, which will monitor his vital signs, administer fluids and medications and provide environmental protection. If immediate surgery is needed, a remote telepresence surgery vehicle will come to the wounded soldier, the medic will place him in the vehicle, and a surgeon will operate remotely using telepresence surgery from a distant Mobile Advance Surgical Hospital (MASH) to the combat zone. Also, the expertise from any specialist will be available from the rear echelons as far back as the home country. For education and training in combat casualty care, virtual reality simulators are being implemented. This same scenario can be utilised in civilian health care, especially in providing care to patients in remote areas who do not currently have access to simple, let alone sophisticated, health care.