MC4 takes rugged approach to hardware
The Army's Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care system integrates existing military software applications into several different rugged devices, including handhelds, laptop PCs, servers, printers and peripherals, MC4 program officials said.
All the pieces together enable the digitization of inpatient and outpatient care, patient tracking and reporting, and medical logistics automation.
Users can access MC4 in several ways. On the battlefield, at the point of injury, medical staff use a Motorola MC70 handheld rugged mobile computer or a Hewlett-Packard iPaq 4700 PDA.
Battalion aid station users can access the system using Dell Latitude E6400 and Panasonic Toughbook CF 51 laptop PCs. In some instances, the Toughbook can function as a server, accessed by other computers.
And at the combat support hospital level, MC4 runs on Dell G4 servers, which would connect to 100-150 laptop clients in a typical hospital, said MC4 product manager Lt. Col. William Geesey.
About the Author
Trudy Walsh is a senior writer for GCN.