Handheld device to help track US Military medical records

Medical records entered into thousands of Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4) laptop computers. Commanders to view near real-time medical surveillance in a clean and standardized format. Good story on how medical intelligence is being use by the US Military...and some of the expertise will no doubt be used with dealing with our own issues here in the US...the MC4 system is a consolidation and combination of several technologies already in use and coming in under one umbrella...commanders have access to view a variety of tools including maps to monitor medical assets in real time...BD

A hand-held device used by Army doctors to track medical information for soldiers on the battlefield will now be used by all the services.

Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker said May 27 that the Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care, or MC4, will allow all medical personnel to quickly input medical information for all service members in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other combat deployment.
MC4 first went to the combat zones in 2003. In the past, combat medics have tracked patient care with paper records — sometimes pinning the documents to a patient’s chest. The new system ensures the documents follow the patient all the way back to hospitals in the U.S. or Germany, where doctors on the ground know exactly what to expect when patients land.
“When we see a trend of a particular injury or illness, we call for assistance from our sister battalion, TF 56 MMB, since TF 261 does not have a preventive medicine mission for Iraq,” Christopher said. “When we see these incidents reported in JMeWS, we alert TF 56 and they dispatch the appropriate preventive medicine detachment for analysis and action.”