The lightweight, robust and low-cost wearable biometric device not only monitors patients but collects and transmits data in real-time. This provides medics with a better overview when treating multiple casualties, providing more effective casualty triage. The small device clips onto a patient's nose with the data transmitted via Bluetooth to a smartphone app or tablet, providing situational awareness across the group.
Cambridge Design Partnership interviewed a range of army medics about their needs and challenges in multiple casualty emergency situations, in the field. An unmet need was a device to bridge the gap between manual methods of vital sign measurement – which can be laborious and challenging amidst the noise and stress of a disaster or on the frontline.
Respiratory rate is often neglected by automated monitoring systems and has been described as the 'forgotten bio-sign', as many existing wearable monitors focus on heart rate alone. Accurate monitoring of respiratory rate combined with other parameters – such as heart rate and body temperature – can indicate life-threatening conditions such as sepsis.
