Pittsburgh, PA – Future civilian and military medics will be less likely to skip a beat when confronting shocking wounds in the field now that SKEDCO Inc. has commercialized an Army-invented bleeding simulation system. Designed to simulate spurting arterial and venal wounds, the Field Expedient Bleeding Simulation System™ (FEBSS) is being used to train U.S. military and other medics in wound treatment.
A major cause of both combat and accident fatalities is wound hemorrhages. Given that the vast majority of life-saving in combat is done by medics, incorporating more realism in training is expected to improve treatment outcomes by increasing medic’s preparedness and confidence.
“FEBSS has been a very valuable training tool at the Ft. Carson Medical Simulation Training Center (MSTC) where it has been instrumental in training thousands of soldiers in Tactical Combat Casualty Care in various simulated tactical environments,” says Timothy Olsen, Site Lead and Senior Training Facilitator at MSTC, Ft. Carson, CO. He adds, “A unique benefit of the FEBSS is that it can be used on live simulated casualties as well as training mannequins.”
The novel system pumps simulated blood through tubes fitted on either a mannequin or live actors, and is remotely controlled for flexibility in training exercises. Compared to existing alternatives, the design offers greater realism, ease of operation and portability. Sales have been made to U.S. Defense organizations in the Army, Navy and Air Force in over 11 states, as well as to academia and to industry both in the U.S. and abroad.
Sergeant Lynn Randall King, a medic trainer formerly at the Army’s Fort Carson 91W School, recognized the need to create more realism in wound treatment training, and proceeded to invent the FEBSS. The patented technology was quickly licensed by SKEDCO from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command with the assistance of the Command’s Office of Research and Technology Applications. SKEDCO is a leader in medical and rescue products worldwide.
Moving U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) innovations from the R&D to industry, where they can benefit both military and civilian first responders, is a legislated mandate for the DoD. The Office of Technology Transition within DoD’s Advanced Systems and Concepts organization oversees these efforts to spin out Defense technology, as well as fosters technology transition into U.S. and coalition warfighters via acquisition programs.
FirstLink, a Partnership Intermediary for the Department of Defense, was responsible for introducing SKEDCO to the FEBSS technology, and facilitated the formation of licensing and cooperative development agreements. FirstLink focuses on forming DoD partnerships that can advance first responder technologies towards commercial civilian and military adoption.
ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT of COMBAT MEDICAL TRAINING
The Department of Combat Medic Training at the US Army Medical Department and School serves as the proponent for the 68W Health Care Specialist and the Army Emergency Medical Service, providing the Army with highly motivated and disciplined Health Care Specialists (Combat Medics). www.cs.amedd.army.mil
ABOUT SKEDCO INC.
SKEDCO, Inc. is an industry leader in innovation, high quality design, development and production of medical and rescue products worldwide for use by civilian and military personnel who operate under the most “extreme” conditions. www.SKEDCO.com
ABOUT FIRSTLINK
FirstLink is the Department of Defense National Center of Excellence for First Responder Technology Transfer, connecting the DoD with companies and investors to accelerate the commercialization of first responder technologies. FirstLink services are provided by Pittsburgh Gateways Corp. and AMTV LLC under a Partnership Intermediary Agreement. www.DoDFirstLink.com