QUANTICO MARINE BASE, Va. -- The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab is testing a seven pound monitor that corpsman can bring with them into the field and send real time data on patients back to doctors stationed at headquarters or on a ship.
Built by RTD, the monitor system called Tempus IC, can collect data such as heart rate, pulse oximetry, pulse rate and blood pressure, among other readings. The monitor bounces the data from a nearby communications suite to a satellite and then to a doctor.
Developing this monitor for corpsman allows Navy doctors to offer immediate guidance on trauma cases suffered in combat, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. David Gribben, head of the expeditionary medical branch for the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, here at the Modern Day Marine Exposition.
The Navy can train and provide a larger number of corpsmen, but it can't support as many doctors in the field. The deployable monitor allows the necessary data to get to doctors and allow them to help corpsmen on the scene, he said.
Gribben said the Army and Special Operations Command is also testing and working with the Tempus IC. The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab will continue testing it this year before possibly moving the program to Marine Corps Systems Command. The monitor has thus far received favorable feedback from Marines, Gribben said.
However, no decision has been made whether to make it a program of record and field the monitors.
The Marine Corps will begin testing an advanced version of the Tempus IC, the Tempus Pro. The upgraded monitor will add an ultrasound and a video laryngoscope, which will give a corpsman and a doctor a clear view of a patient's airway.
Engineers designed the monitor with combat conditions in mind. It is daylight readable and glove-operable. A lithium-ion battery allows it to operate for about eight hours. Gribben said some corpsmen reported its battery lasting as long as 11 hours.
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