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U.S.
Marine Corps Urges Industry to Lighten Up Equipment
Worsens for U.S. Warfighters as Costs Rise |
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Warfighter Rx: RFID
On-time shipment of medical supplies has always been a critical effort in military logistics, and supply chain management one its greatest difficulties. The Department of Defense (DOD) reports that its use of RFID in supply chain management has more than proven itself. Last year, DOD reduced inventory in Iraq from $127 million to about $70 million, it cut delivery time from 28 days on average to 16 days, and the backlog of orders waiting to be shipped was trimmed to one-tenth of what it was. A pallet of medical supplies can leave the Defense Logistics Agency’s main headquarters at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and maintain its own visibility-in-transit all the way to Iraq. An active chip (one with its own power source) can call in at regular intervals and report its location to CENTCOM as well as to supply databases in field hospitals. Real-time tracking of medical supplies is a tremendous leap forward, but RFID has another use that is even more vital: tracking injured warfighters. At the U.S. Navy Fleet Hospital Three in Iraq, each patient is fitted with a wristband on admittance. The wristband contains an RFID chip. From that moment on, the warfighter is accurately identified at every point, and treatment is tracked for each step of the journey to recovery. Replacing the handwritten-record method that has been in use since the Civil War, the Navy’s Tactical Medical Coordination System (TacMedCS) enables three crucial goals: it simplifies hospital administration, reduces errors, and provides better care to ill and injured warfighters, as well as refugees and prisoners of war. The RFID chip can hold significant amounts of data, including the identification number, injury record, and triage treatment of the wounded. One of the worst problems in battlefield medicine is the occasion when a chart is lost as a warfighter is transferred from one location to another. With the use of RFID, the medical data stored in the chip travels with the patient. The chart can be read at each location by scanning a handheld device over the wristband, and doctors can add information, such as medications administered and treatments given. The result is improved medical care. As RFID databases are enabled, medics in the field can use the tags as identifiers for the wounded before they are sent to the hospital, and medical staff can prepare for the arrival of the patient long before he reaches the receiving room door. Another benefit of RFID use in military medicine is the ability of command to collect and collate data on the frequency and severity of common injuries and illnesses and then determine measures to lessen or prevent them. Researchers might also have access to a database of military medical information that would enable them to study battlefield medical phenomena. The use of RFID in
military medicine has saved millions of dollars, reduced uncounted hours
in delays, and made possible better care for U.S. warfighters.
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Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID), the use of a tiny readable microchip
packed with data and carried within a tag that can be affixed to almost
anything, is being used in new ways to treat the injuries and save the
lives of U.S. warfighters. RFID technology has been around for more than
50 years, but only in the last decade has it been embraced by the military
as both a money-saver and a life-saver.