SIMETRI Awarded Contract to Upgrade Gender Retrofit Kit

After finishing initial development of a gender retrofit kit to integrate with existing human patient simulators, SIMETRI is updating the kit in response to testing conducted by the Army Medical Department (AMEDD). The new contract awarded by the Army Futures Command is addressing changes to the breast design for movement and realism while still targeting maximum durability. The testing also indicated that minor form, fit, and function design changes could result in a much-needed training capability.

"This valuable feedback will help guide us in upgradingthis training capability to ultimately improve the performance of thecaregiver, and ultimately save lives," explained Angela Albán, SIMETRI’spresident and CEO. “With the growing number of females in all of DoD enlistedforces, ensuring the medical provider is adequately prepared to treat bothmales and females with the same level of confidence can be the differencebetween life and death."

Tension pneumothorax is the second leading cause of preventable death on the battlefield and is treated by performing a needle chest decompression, which requires exposing and palpating the chest area.

"Research showed that women with chest injuries on thebattlefield were not being properly examined for a chest wound and the correctdiagnosis was being missed. The resulting tension pneumothorax, a conditionthat can cause death but is preventable if treated properly, is not beingdetected and treated," said Albán. "The intent of the retrofit kit isto ensure that those caring for injured soldiers are comfortable and preparedto care for female casualties without delay."

The gender retrofit kit facilitates using an existing humanpatient simulator, originally configured as a male, to simulate a femalecasualty, therefore extending the training capability of an existing asset tobetter prepare the warfighter to care for female casualties.

Battlefield situations require a provider to expose andexamine a female casualty’s body so any hesitation on the part of the providercould compromise the injured casualty’s life.