VIRTUAL WARD


software platform in real-world applica- tions and operations.”


MEDHUB’s modified software allows for patients who do not require ventila- tion to recover at home and have their medical information virtually transmit- ted to the Darnall Medical Center. Patient information is exchanged using cellular networks in place of the DOD satellite radio networks, for which the MEDHUB system was originally programmed. Tis modification required the software team at S3I to develop a custom virtual ward website for the clinicians at Darnall.


MADE EASY TO USE


Spc. Nathaniel Coleman, a treatment noncommissioned officer with the 44th Medical Battalion, demonstrates the MEDHUB system in a field hospital setting. The MEDHUB system was refined for a more user-friendly interface in the fall of 2020. (Photo by U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency)


DEFINE ‘VIRTUAL’ Patients who qualify for the virtual ward are deemed to be clinically at low risk; they do not meet the threshold of need- ing extra care in the hospital but should still be monitored. Te hospital sends these patients home with medical devices that allow hospital staff to watch them from Darnall, while allowing their family members to help care for them.


Te patient-monitoring capabilities are made possible by the MEDHUB system of


the U.S. Army Medical Materiel


Development Activity (USAMMDA). A new variation of this system was rapidly produced to meet the mission needs of the virtual ward. Te MEDHUB concept was established in 2017 to serve as a medical communication platform that exchanges trauma patient information between U.S. Army medics and the hospitals receiving them during medical evacuations.


44 Army AL&T Magazine Winter 2021


“I am so proud of all the people who worked on producing a variation of MEDHUB within 60 days. In my opinion, that is an amazing feat,” said Jay Wang, the product manager in the Warfighter Health, Performance and Evacuation Project Management Office. “It is excit- ing and validating to have our system and


Typically, messages would be delivered from an ambulance to a field hospital using DOD satellite radio networks. Engi- neers within USAMMDA’s Warfighter Health, Performance and Evacuation Project Management Office, as well as a software team at the Software, Simulation, Systems Engineering and Integration (S3I) Directorate within the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center, tailored MEDHUB’s software to support home monitoring at the virtual ward.


ADAPTING THE DEVICE To support the virtual ward, MEDHUB underwent a software change to track patient medical information. Te orig- inal version of MEDHUB tracks each occurrence when a patient is transported in an ambulance. Teir medical data is displayed at the hospital for the duration of the medical evacuation, which lasts anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. With the virtual ward software, patient infor- mation is tracked over the course of several days in a patient’s home, versus the short ambulance ride.


Heart rate, blood pressure, oxygenation and temperature are some of the data that MEDHUB monitors in patients at home. Tese signals are especially important to track among COVID-19 patients. Higher heart rate and temperature indicate that a person may have active disease state and be likely to transmit the virus. Oxygen satu- ration is also a big indicator that someone might be displaying effects of COVID- 19. It is a respiratory disease; therefore, as a patient’s oxygen saturation goes down, they will have more difficulty breathing.


THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT MEDHUB’s easy-to-use system works as an app on a smartphone. Data collected


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