Due to the medical concept of ultra-fast evacuation after life-supporting measures from the danger zone to qualified surgical therapy, the new rescue device acts like a drug with which precious time can be saved to give the injured person and the surgeon a fair chance to perform life-saving operations.
Golden Hour
Time is the best medication.
Many years of practical experience and clinical research in emergency
medicine have proved that mortality and time to operation are heavily
correlated. The longer the therapy free interval the lower the
survival probability of the patient especially for penetrating traumas
such as gunshot wounds.
Delay to the operating room of more than 10 minutes increases the risk
of mortality by up to threefold [1].
The data suggests that a scoop and run strategy is beneficial for
injury trauma patients [2].
Likelihood of death is significantly higher when EMS initial measures
slow down the transport speed [3].
In addition to scoop and run, our concept includes minimal
life-supporting measures before flight according to TCCC [4].
DRONEVAC
Drones for evacuation.
We introduce a system which complements the standard assets of the
evacuation chain. Consisting of an uncrewed aerial vehicle, a
truck-integrated control room, a trailer for logistics and service as
well as a digital backbone, the system DRONEVAC acts like a booster to
the existing evacuation chain. Once the operational and tactical
circumstances demand additional resources, the system can be deployed.
Due to the many years of previous experience and preparatory work at the Chair of Flight System Dynamics at the Technical University of Munich, as well as the experience of the team, we are now able to build an impressive demonstrator system relatively quickly.
RASEVAC
Robotics and autonomous systems for evacuation.
The international community of military physicians has already
established an acronym for robotic and autonomous systems for
evacuation: RASEVAC. Our approach, DRONEVAC, is to be understood as a
subcategory of RASEVAC specialized on air transport. Therefore, the
same ethical reasoning can be applied to both. We summarize the
results of the AMSUS (Association of Military Surgeons of the US)
Conference of February 2023.
Some rescue operations imply a huge risk for the mission participants.
Uncrewed vehicles are thus an adequate mitigation.
When traditional means of rescue create a delay that increases
mortality, the choice of an alternative can be justified.
Once the capacities of the evacuation chain are saturated, RASEVAC
systems can avoid triage.
Some rescue operations (e.g., in CBRN scenarios) cannot be executed
with crewed evacuation vehicles.
As a member of the management board, I held a crucial role in the development and manufacturing of state-of-the-art equipment for the medical service of the German Armed Forces. This included the creation of advanced technologies such as UVTgl, GVTC, and other innovative solutions. Throughout my experience, I fostered the idea of complementary autonomous rescue systems, which has now reached a stage of maturity. It is the perfect time to introduce intelligent supplementary products in line with the globally acclaimed RASEVAC philosophy, aiming to bridge essential capability gaps.