Survitec standardises its Pre-Hospital Care System Modules to advance in-field treatment

Safety and survival equipment supplier Survitec has standardised its entire portfolio of battlefield casualty sustainment modules to reduce the number of fatalities sustained from injuries that are generally considered to have been treatable.

Adopting an approach implemented by the US military, Survitec has reconfigured its 29 medical modules, including the FC-1, MC-1, FC-2, FC-4, FC-4WP, FC-5WP and CS-2 pre-hospital care systems, to ensure that all personnel, irrespective of the level of training, can administer effective treatment with confidence.

Kevin Wheeler, Group Medical Director, Survitec, said: “Each module has been re-designed by our specialist team of SOF medics and rescue professionals to maximise user interface, speed of care and mobility of equipment.”

The optimised pre-hospital care system delivers modular capabilities for several different trauma scenarios including extraction, field mobility, tactical field care, tactical evacuation care, sustainment care, mass casualty care, far forward environments, CBRN environments and naval operations.

A key development is that all components have been standardised with a comprehensive suite of medical equipment placed in order of the severity of the possible injury sustained. 

“Entry level-personnel with limited medical knowledge can quickly administer the care relevant to the injury,” said Wheeler. “This provides all combat personnel with full life saving capability, from in-field patient access to hand-over at the hospital.”

All modules are packed by Survitec following strict guidelines, delivering confidence to end-users that all the equipment they carry is present, within its use by date and working correctly.

Wheeler said: “Supply chains in the military often take a long time and can sometimes result in the armed forces being behind the curve in terms of access to new technologies and equipment. One of the advantages of the Pre-hospital Care System Modules is that forces can get access to standardised up-to-date equipment, which helps bridge the gap between older equipment and newer technologies. With standardised components it is also easier and quicker to replenish spent consumables.”

The principle behind Survitec’s medical modules is in line with the US Special Armed Forces Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) programme introduced the mid-1990s to reduce the amount of preventable deaths on the battlefield.

Wheeler said: “It is about empowering soldiers with training and equipment to do something about casualties on the battlefield.”

Another aspect of Survitec’s care package optimisation has been the introduction of a protective casing for the Philips Lumify handheld ultrasound system, which is included in the Pre-hospital Care System to help diagnosis and treat casuaities.

Survitec and Royal Philips subsidiary Remote Diagnostic Technologies (RDT), a UK-based innovator of advanced pre-hospital health monitoring solutions, pooled their resource to develop a shield capable of protecting the critical equipment in a combat scenario.

Following the collaboration, all Philips Lumify ultra sound devices are now supplied with a robust casing inside a man packable medical module (a backpack that can be carried by one man). It now features as part of its PCS (Pre-hospital Care Systems) Modules.