Test and Evaluation of a Networked Patient Simulator System: Combat Trauma Patient Simulator (CTPS)

Medical readiness training is vital to the US military, since battlefield wounds, such as chemical and biological injuries, are not seen in fixed medical treatment facilities. The Combat Trauma Patient System CTPS was designed to simulate combat injuries with a network infrastructure to document medical handling and treatment. The Combat Trauma Patient Simulation CTPS system was developed using congressional funds, by a commercial vendor, Medical Education Technologies Incorporated METI. This congressionally funded project was managed by two federal agencies, the Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command STRICOM and Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center TATRC. To date, there have been four congressional awards to the Combat Trauma Patient Simulation CTPS project. The CTPS system will be tested and evaluated in two phases. In the first phase, testing will be conducted to verify system functionality. In this phase the system will be analyzed for usability and to ensure that the system functions according to specifications. In the second phase, assessment and validation of the efficacy of the simulators as training tools will be assessed In this phase traditional training techniques utilized by the military health care system will be analyzed in contrast with the simulators using a combination of subjective and objective measures.