Smart Surrogates Train Muscle Memory for Life-Saving Tactical Combat Casualty Care

SIMETRI, Inc. has completed the Smart Surrogates tourniquet, the first of a line of low-cost, self-paced medical training devices designed for first responders that will track and facilitate the repetitions required to build the procedural memory for saving lives and treating traumatic injuries.

Smart Surrogates is intended to be a complete set of inexpensive, reusable, and refurbishable training devices that can be used on human medical training manikins—allowing for training anywhere, anytime, without supervision. The system will include accompanying courseware for training and assessing procedures. SIMETRI has already produced a device for tourniquet application, and upcoming development will see additions for securing a nasopharyngeal airway, securing intravenous access, and other tasks critical for Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC). Future development will result an emphasis on software interfaces, integration, and reducing lifecycle and sustainment costs.

Almost 90% of wounded Warfighters who die from combat wounds do so before they arrive at a medical treatment facility. The TCCC program was developed to teach evidence-based, life-saving techniques and strategies for providing battlefield trauma care.

The combination of device sensory cues and accompanying performance tracking systems ensure that muscle memory is translating correctly to TCCC trainees.

“Repetition is a big part of any training curriculum, but in the environments that combat medics may be deployed, it’s even more critical,” said SIMETRI’s Vice President of Engineering, Ed Stadler. “We’ve heard it many times over from medics returning from combat duty. When everything else in your body wants to panic, it’s muscle memory that gets you through the procedure.”