Citation

Pamplin JC, Remondelli MH, Fisher N, Quinn MT. Mil. Med. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States)

DOI

10.1093/milmed/usae377

PMID

39096522

Abstract

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation have become ubiquitous in the twenty-first century. Transportation services, automobile manufacturers, the technology industry, and distribution companies all use human-technology teaming (HTTs) to enhance the efficiency of their networks and products. Analogously, the military plans to utilize similar technologies to augment the speed and effectiveness of weapon systems, uncrewed combat vehicles, logistic hubs, and command and control (C2) capabilities.1-4 Just as the integration of automation will enable combat units to be more successful, efficient, and deadlier in their mission, it is evident that automation should be applied to disease nonbattle injury and combat casualty care to optimize the efficiency and, therefore, the capability and capacity, of the Military Health System (MHS) to ensure Warfighter survivability. The MHS must adopt an automation paradigm to achieve its goals--minimizing casualties by optimizing health, maximizing casualty return to duty, optimizing battlefield casualty clearance while maintaining or exceeding current casualty outcomes, and overcoming contested logistics--in the complex context of multi-domain battle against peer adversaries.5

In this commentary, we discuss the need to fully automate casualty care, the challenges to achieving this, and the steps needed for success. We posit that automating casualty care will increase the capability and capacity to manage both casualty volume and diversity, thus ensuring the MHS's ability to preserve the fighting force and sustain forward momentum on the battlefield. Although our vision may include fully autonomous casualty care--a concept that is not achievable in our lifetime and potentially impossible to achieve fully--the journey toward fully autonomous care from where we are today, where medical care is almost entirely in the human domain, will produce novel human-technology teaming solutions that will reduce human task burden and facilitate better, faster decisions and therefore optimize casualty outcomes. ...

Language: en