Casualty Monitoring During Remote Rescue

Poster presented at the 2007 Mountain and Wilderness Medicine World Congress, Aviemore, Scotland. Wilderness and Environmental Medicine;18(3):p235-50.

Triage and management of casualties in remote settings is a major
challenge for rescue and healthcare services worldwide. Emergency
access to remote and rural areas is often limited by poor road conditions
and by inclement weather, including high winds, low temperatures,
and poor visibility and precipitation, including snow. These
make it difficult for rescuers to locate and assess casualties and increase
the risk to the casualty of environmental exposure. A novel
type of wireless physiologic monitor being developed by the Centre
for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (Boston,
MA) has the potential to facilitate casualty monitoring under such
conditions. Prototypes have been developed and applied in a military
environment. This study is exploring the potential role for these devices
in remote rescue.
Aim.—The first phase of this work aims to describe the epidemiology
of accidents occurring in remote areas, to inform design of monitoring
equipment. The study combines a thematic review of worldwide
literature with an analysis of data from UK accident databases
maintained by the Mountain Rescue Committees of Scotland and England
and Wales. Data will be retrieved describing the nature of casualties
(age, sex, injury, activity prior to injury), the rescue environment
(season, conditions, number of casualties per incident), and medical
care provided (stretcher use, attendance by a doctor, physiological
monitoring employed, helicopter support). Summary statistics will be
presented. The implications of the results will be discussed in the
context of the technical and operational aspects of the novel technology
in question.