Additional Uses for the MC4 Handheld - LTC William Smith, 550th Area Support Medical Company

My biggest criticism is not so much about the MC4 system, but the fact that we routinely lose power causing the servers to not work. To combat the power loss and continue doing our job, I think the providers should try using an MC4 handheld as a backup instead of using pen and paper. This way, you can upload your notes when the MC4 system is up and running again. Another idea is to have a flatbed scanner available so hand-written notes can be included into a patient's electronic medical record (EMR).

During my deployment, I have been to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where the conditions are really austere and since this is a multi-national base with the Canadians running the hospital, there is no MC4 system. We often get patients flown into Kandahar without documentation of injuries or previous treatments.

I have had two HP 4700s to document patient care. Both of which I purchased myself. The dust over here destroys them, even with the protective case. Also, the case makes the handheld very cumbersome to use.

I would like to try an experiment where we use the new Motorola handheld to record patient data every day. Then at the end of the day, we burn a CD-ROM. This way, when we return to an area with the MC4 system, we can upload the records on the CD-ROM so they are part of the EMRs.

Are flight medics getting and using the handhelds? I truly think that point-of-contact documentation is going to be essential. When the patient gets to a level II facility, which may not have MC4, one can continue to document care with the handheld.

I want to help refine this technology for our troops.