The Military Health System is working to develop medical products and discover new prevention techniques, tracing methods and other approaches in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Federal News Network reported Monday.
Air Force Col. Todd Rasmussen, associate dean for research at the Uniformed Services University, said the MHS has found new uses for a registry designed to help with combat wounds, known as the Joint Trauma System.
“Almost immediately in 2020, when the MHS needed a go-to organization to begin to gather data on, of all things, not combat injuries, but of COVID positive patients,” Rasmussen said. “We went to the JPS because they had a registry that allowed us to, to look at and gather real world data sort of near real time data on these cases. They have a global network of performance improvement and care Improvement where we discuss care and how to best diagnose and treat patients with COVID.”
Another innovation the military put to use during the pandemic is the Food and Drug Administration-approved COVID-19 Airway Management Isolation Chamber or CAMIC, a personal protective equipment designed to reduce airborne particles using a negative pressure vacuum.
“In mid-March, after some brainstorming, we came up with a simple device, the CAMIC, which was a low cost, $15, and easy to build with materials very ubiquitous to every healthcare system and community,” said Dr. Steven Hong, assistant professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University.
