Feds Test New Tool to Speed Up Medical Response in Mass Casualty

The departments of Energy and Homeland Security have started testing prototypes of a new tool designed to help medical responders monitor multiple patients and share information in real time during a mass casualty. 

The agencies are exploring the VitalTag Technology that uses multiple sensors to detect the vital signs of patients and share data to responders’ mobile devices. Medics could use the patient data to see those in need of urgent care, the DHS said Wednesday.

Ongoing tests of the tool focus on the accuracy of patient vitals. Existing VitalTag prototypes work to monitor blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, blood oxygen, shock index and single-lead electrocardiogram, among other metrics

The DHS said the devices appear able to transfer patient data in real time to laptops, phones and tablets at the disaster site, as well as ambulances and hospitals.

“An attractive feature of the VitalTag system, which allows all of this to happen, is its multi-platform user interface, which displays all the important information in neat, comprehensive, interactive tables,” the agency said.