Latest innovations in military medicine to feature at DSEI

DSEI has built a strong relationship with DMS over the years, supporting the UK Armed Forces in its entirety, including both uniformed and civilian medical personnel working across the three services. DMS will be running demonstrations on the key themes throughout the week.

The most recent DMS Medical Director, Brigadier Tim Hodgetts, was also part of a small team of military and NHS clinicians to launch a pioneering app, citizenAID, to help soldiers and civilians deal with injuries following acts of violence, while waiting for emergency services. Visitors to the demonstrations are encouraged to download the app so that they can follow along with the DMS demonstrations, which will cover key trauma topics including:

• Role 1/Battlefield Advanced Trauma Life Support (BATLS)
• Surgery
• Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT)
• Centre for Defence Healthcare Engagement (CDHE)
• Prolonged Field Care (PFC)
• HearWELL Programme

More than 20 exhibitors will participate in the Medical Engagement Zone, demonstrating how military medical innovations can influence and improve civilian medicine and vice versa. There will be a wide range of exhibitors, covering everything from structural needs to key equipment. Here is a snapshot of some of the most innovative tech from the military and healthcare domains that will feature.

First time exhibitor, MDT Global Solutions, a company focused on the simulation theme of the Zone, is a world leader in the supply of simulated bodies for military, police and medical training. The company creates lifelike products which feature injury patterns that allow for realistic training events. Simulation has become a key component of special forces education around the world, and the ability to have realistic looking and feeling bodies (suitable for Medical intervention or forensic recovery and scene protection) is a key element of some of the leading training programmes worldwide.

The team provides Babies, Children and Adults. Everything is built in the film studios at Elstree in London, where the bodies have also been used for films including Rambo, Saving Private Ryan and Wonder Woman.

Tytek Medical manufactures compact, pre-hospital, emergency medical equipment which have been designed for military medics in current conflicts in the Middle East. Tools such as their Piranha Trauma Shears have been designed to cut through any material, including webbing, leather, boots, heavy winter gear and any metal components integrated into the equipment, while maintaining the accuracy to cut through soft materials such as gauze. The success of Tytek’s products has led to demand growing in civilian sectors, such as ski patrols, search and rescue, and fire emergency services.

Other exhibitors in the Zone include Celox, which creates haemostats which can stop major bleeding in only one minute, and the market leaders in infection control, GAMA Healthcare.

Outside the Zone will be Western Shelter Systems, which designs and manufactures portable shelters for field hospitals, and another new exhibitor to DSEI, Bodytrak, which has created the first, and only, unobtrusive body monitoring platform to accurately measure multiple physiological factors via an in-ear device. Developed in response to the death of three SAS recruits through hyperthermia, Bodytrak combines core-body temperature and heart rate in real time, on one device to prevent heat injury, enhance performance and preserve life; allowing early intervention through timely alerts, in the most remote and hazardous environments.

Away from the Medical Engagement Zone, there are two Strategic Conferences dedicated to medicine, and various seminar sessions in the Joint Theatre. The Trauma Innovation and Military Medicine (TIMM) Conference will consist of three streams, and is held in partnership with the UK Surgeon General and DMS. The streams will focus on Trauma Innovation, Military Nursing, and the Surgeon General’s Conference: Triple Serpent.

Medical Seminars held during the exhibition will include a session by Philips Healthcare, discussing their latest mobile ultrasound technology and why it is a game-changer for military and disaster relief clinicians. Another seminar session, led by BlackBox Biometrics, will discuss the overlooked threat of repeated blast exposure for soldiers.

Duncan Reid, DSEI Event Director, said: “The Medical Engagement Zone is an area in DSEI where the cross-over between civilian and military requirements is so great that we see some amazing innovations taking place thanks to the collaborative nature of the companies in the industry.

The ongoing threats of terrorism and recent incidents which have occurred all over Europe are a bleak reminder that we need to be prepared for all eventualities. I highly recommend visitors to download the citizenAID app and to visit the Medical Engagement Zone to see the practical demonstrations, and witness some of the latest life-saving equipment available.”