WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- A mobile medical documentation tool developed by Air Force Research Laboratory researchers is now deployed and being tested on Maryland State Police medevac helicopters. This marks the first time medical providers are using Battlefield Assisted Trauma Distributed Observation Kit (BATDOK) to document and transfer civilian patients in the U.S.
Maryland State Police flight paramedic crews are using the AFRL-developed tool alongside their standard toolset as they transport injured patients to hospitals for shock trauma treatment.
BATDOK, a mobile application that helps medics monitor patients, complete documentation and provides decision-support capabilities, streamlines patient care and optimizes patient delivery to medical facilities, resulting in more efficient and potentially life-saving care.
“We are proud to deliver this technology to military and now civilian medics, helping to save lives on the battlefield and beyond," said Brig. Gen. Robert Bogart, 711th Human Performance Wing commander. “This capability is a direct result of the powerful synergy between our engineers, operational users and medical professionals within the 711th Human Performance Wing.”
With seven helicopter bases located in Maryland, about 2,000 patients are transported on these medevac helicopters per year.
“Partnering up with the civilian sector can help us identify and possibly expose what is a developing capability to more use cases and scenarios,” said Dr. Gregory Burnett, lead engineer for AFRL’s 711th Human Performance Wing product development branch, Human Effectiveness Directorate. “That exposure can further accelerate its overall development. This supports our goal to not only develop enabling technologies for the Air Force, but to transition that capability to a larger network of U.S. stakeholders.”
This application of BATDOK to civilian medevac operations will help AFRL researchers collect more representative data of on-base emergency medical service calls and military medical evacuation missions downrange.
“To accurately represent what the military sees, we needed to collect pre-hospital data,” said Jake Kirsh, research biomedical engineer and project lead, AFRL’s 711th Human Performance Wing, Human Effectiveness Directorate. “The data gathered will help researchers develop artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to use in medical care in the en route care space.”
Originally started as an Air Force science and technology initiative in response to an Air Combat Command need for improved battlefield documentation, BATDOK later became a Defense Health Program initiative with funding from Air Force Medical Service. Military medics began evaluating BATDOK in 2016, and the tool deployed operationally with Air Force pararescuemen in 2019. In 2022, after testing across the services, the Joint Operational Medicine Information Systems program management office selected BATDOK as the joint integrated electronic health record for point-of-injury and en route care.
BATDOK captures medical documentation to include injury type and treatments provided. To document observations and actions, medical providers use tailored touch-screen workflows that simplify data capture. The app relays patient vitals and treatment descriptions to staff and physicians at the receiving medical facility, enabling a seamless patient handoff.
An existing cooperative agreement between the Air Force and the University of Maryland Baltimore facilitated this latest testing with the Maryland State Police, said Dr. Jody Cantu, product area lead for the En Route Care section, AFRL’s 711th Human Performance Wing.
Researchers have collected data for years at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center where AFRL has onsite personnel dedicated to studying en route care. AFRL also has a partnership with this hospital called the Center for the Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (C-STARS-Baltimore) which enables Air Force medics to maintain readiness and clinical currency skills. C-STARS-Baltimore embeds Air Force providers in one of the nation’s busiest trauma centers, training them on vital medical skills prior to deployment.
AFRL researchers said this latest testing came about due to observations of BATDOK’s usefulness in military environments, and the hope that the tool would be beneficial in civilian use cases.
“The Maryland State Police saw this capability from their partnership with the C-STARS program and wanted to use BATDOK to save lives and gather information,” Cantu said, noting that “the civilian impact of BATDOK can be just as much, if not more than the military application.”
The testing will be completed under a phased approach with the first phase focused on building the infrastructure to field BATDOK to the Maryland State Police and start streaming data. The tests will begin in Baltimore and then will be rolled out statewide.
“The Maryland State Police medevac system covers a wide range so this will give us the ability to capture data from a lot of patients,” Cantu said.
Maryland State Police flight paramedics and University of Maryland Shock Trauma staff received initial training at the C-STARS Baltimore simulation lab. The AFRL team shared user manuals and installation guides with Maryland State Police and did consultations, but they also plan to do follow-on training as they advance to the next phases of testing.
“This is yet another application of our teams coming together and impacting the lives in the medical space,” Kirsh said. “We're advancing the capability for our Air Force, but we're also advancing the capability for the broader community.”
The AFRL team emphasized that both organizations benefit from this testing arrangement.
“Maryland State Police provides us an opportunity to test and collect pre-hospital data, but it benefits them by improving their overall care chain as well,” Burnett said.
About AFRL
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is the Department of the Air Force’s primary scientific research and development center and one of six centers within Air Force Materiel Command. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace forces. With a workforce spanning across nine technology areas and 40 other operations around the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development. For more information, visit afresearchlab.com.
AFRL’ Human Effectiveness Directorate is part of the 711th Human Performance Wing, a unique combination of two mission units. While the Human Effectiveness Directorate is science- and technology-focused, the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine is a center for aerospace medical learning, consultation, medical investigations and aircrew health assessments. This synergy of research and development with aerospace medical expertise helps ensure Airmen and Guardians are available, ready and performing at their peak.