Fleet Week Peer to Peer Medical Exchange

Ambulance leaving hospital parking lot

UCSF at ZSFG has a long-standing tradition of collaborating with the US Navy to explore civilian and military capabilities and how we can best collaborate to ensure we are ready for whatever eventualities come our way. On October 3, 2018, Drs. Amanda Samman, from the UCSF Department of Surgery, and Benn Lancman, from the UCSF Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, had the opportunity to participate in one such collaboration.

 

At the session, Drs. Samman and Lancman demonstrated some recently declassified military equipment that is being studied for use as an advanced telehealth platform. By providing high fidelity, real-time support to (in this example) our EMS providers, Dr. Sammann was able to extend their capabilities to provide a potentially life-saving intervention to a patient who would otherwise have no other care options. The scenario was a major earthquake in San Francisco, with a loss of infrastructure resulting in no ability for advanced medical providers to reach the patient. The patient had an entrapped leg and Dr. Sammann guided providers through the amputation and preparation for transport to ZSFG.

 

These exciting collaborations give us a window into how the near future might look - remote communication with crews in the field, real-time consultation and advice, and potentially field diagnostics allowing early preparation of resources at ZSFG before arrival of the patient (eg ORs, blood bank, scanners, personnel). This tech is still in the prototype stage, but exciting none the less.