ARTEMIS - Medical Model - ISTS

CERT

AUTOMATED TRIAGE

The medical model component of our system consists of a fuzzy-logic alorithm that takes physiological and qualitative data as input and returns a general status (triage) level for a casualty or responder. Status is categorized using a simple but effective triage protocol developed by NATO. This protocol classifies an injured individual based on the location, type, and severity of their injury as well as their cognitive and ambulatory ability into following categories:

Normal

Individual is healthy.
Minimal

Individual is able to self-treat and/or walk to a casualty collection point.
Delayed

Individual is able to self-treat but is not able to walk.

Individual has a serious injury requiring immediate treatment.
Expectant

Individual has a serious injury with imminent death.

The inputs to the status-classification system include:

Physiological Data from the pulse-oximeter (Pulse, Perfusion, Sp02)
Possible qualitative information from a responder on the scene
- Airway, Breathing, Circulation
- Injury location, type and severity
- Cognitive status (Responsive, Non-repsonsive, etc.)
- Presence of major bleeding
Possible status-override by commander or other authority

Using the above inputs, the medical model then continuously updates its determination of the individual's status. A number of factors can cause an individual to enter one of the above alert states. For instance, if an casualty's vital signs enter certain critical ranges, an alert can be triggered. An injured responder can also self-trigger an alert, by hitting the "I'm Hit" button located on his touchscreen, followed by a series of basic questions about the injury. First responders can also specify that another responder has been injured by selecting "Man Down" on their touchscreen and entering information about their comrade's injuries. All of these inputs combine to provide as accurate a determination of physiological status as possible.

As mentioned above, status can be overridden by a first responder on the scene at any time. If there is a fault detected in the system (malfuntioning or inoperative sensor, network connectivity outage, etc.), then the system will return a special status of "Grey" or "Technical Problem". This helps to avoid erroneous status determinations from malfunctioning equipment.

Below is a sample screen from the responder's user interface, showing a listing of casualties with their current status indicated next to their name. This type of information allows responders to make informed decisions about where their care is most needed, during and after an emergency.