Health security

Military Medicine Adapts to Future Battlefield

The demands of future battlefields will force the military medical community to prepare for operational environments that are vastly different. Enemy air superiority may not allow the U.S. military to fly critically wounded soldiers to well-equipped hospitals in far-off countries, so field hospitals may have to rely on new, robotic technology to save patients.

Robotic surgery, which is currently used in non-invasive procedures, could be adapted to meet the Army’s needs. U.S. Army physicians, located far from a field hospital, could soon be performing delicate, highly specialized surgery on wounded soldiers using robotics and other forms of telemedicine, reports military.com.

Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Nadja West said “We might not have the life-saving ‘golden hour’ evacuation system we have been accustomed to for the past 17 years.” “Our soldiers may be isolated for 72 hours or more, requiring prolonged field care if injured in an austere environment.”