PANDEMIC RESPONSE
by medical devices, such as pulse oximeter and blood-pressure cuff, is sent via Blue- tooth to smartphone connected to the patient's home WiFi. Tat, in turn, trans- mits the data so that hospital staff can access it. Te app also allows the patient to view their readings from the wireless vital sign monitors. Te pulse oximeter, which attaches to the patient’s finger, measures the patient’s heart rate and oxygen satu- ration levels. Te blood pressure monitor will measure the systolic and diastolic blood pressure. With these devices and the MEDHUB app, the clinician can view and import the patient’s previous and current vital signs remotely in near- real time.
Before sending the patient home for moni- toring, the hospital staff walks through the process and sets up the devices with them, ensuring that they know how to use the technology when they go home.
“We only send patients home if we are comfortable with their skill level to handle the technology, and their health is stable enough,” said Love.
Since the virtual ward launched in August, the MEDHUB team has been continually refining the device’s interface to be more user friendly.
“We fixed simple things, like making sure the user does not have to log in every time. We fixed graphical display issues,” said Wang. “We are making a new user inter- face because the original one was designed for medics out on the battlefield, so there were about five screens to look at.”
INTERFACE-LIFT Te user interface is getting a significant upgrade in the fall of 2020. MEDHUB’s development team will kick off a gener- ation two software for the home users,
which will show the basic vitals on a single screen instead of five.
As of September, four MEDHUB systems had been deployed to the virtual ward, and six additional systems were being worked on. Tree patients had participated in the virtual ward as of September, and all had successfully recovered in the comfort of their own homes.
“We sent one of our COVID recovery patients home with it, and I think that the additional level of comfort being home helped in their recovery,” said Love.
Love said the patient had been at the hospi- tal for longer than they would have liked. Moving to the virtual ward helped allevi- ate the stress of being away from home. Te patient knew the hospital staff was still watching them, but in a familiar place.
“We do a lot in the hospital for our patients, but it is a busy place, and resting can be tough when there are lots of people around,” said Love.
Both the Darnall Medical Center virtual ward team and the MEDHUB team are confident that they are ready for any future situations that may cause an influx of patients again.
“A cellphone, pulse oximeter, blood pres- sure cuff and a thermometer are all you need to get MEDHUB running. If we get more patients, we will be ready to build more MEDHUB units,” said Wang.
CONCLUSION Tis is not the first time MEDHUB has been quickly adapted to assist an Army medicine mission. In July 2020, the MEDHUB development team config- ured specialized MEDHUB kits for the 30th Medical Brigade in Landstuhl, Germany. Te system works for them as a
clinic, passing messages from inside a Role of Care 1 battalion aid station or Role of Care 2 forward resuscitative surgical team, for example, from bedside to the nursing station inside the tent. Tis variation of MEDHUB enables the medical person- nel in the clinic to see information from many patients within the tent system all on one laptop.
“As long as patient data is being passed from one place to another, MEDHUB can be modified to support,” said Wang.
Medical evacuations, pandemics, medical tent systems—MEDHUB’s adaptability has proven to be an asset in the current worldwide health situation as well as for the future readiness of our military forces when they encounter threats to their health. Te virtual ward powered by MEDHUB has introduced a new way for hospitals to treat patients, keep health care providers safe and safeguard the health of service members.
For more information on the MEDHUB program and other projects being developed by the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Develop- ment Activity, go to the USAMMDA website at
https://www.usammda.army.mil/.
ASHLEY N. FORCE is functional analyst with General Dynamics Information Technology, providing contract support for the Public Affairs Office at
the U.S.
Army Medical Materiel Development Activity, responsible for performing research and functional analysis on a variety of projects including event coordination, media coverage, article writing and social media management. She holds a B.A. in journalism from Rowan University. She has worked in television news as a general assignment reporter and desk anchor for the CBS-affiliated stations KPIC and KVAL News in Eugene, Oregon.
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