What Ukrainian combat medics taught us about Battlefield Health

Software built for military use and software built for hospitals share more than most people realise. A visit from 50 Ukrainian combat medics in Aarhus made that connection visible.

The medics have spent the last two and a half years working on the Ukrainian front line. They came to Denmark to rest, as part of a mental health recovery programme run by the NGO Repower.

During their stay, they visited Systematic's headquarters to give feedback on SitaWare Battlefield Health, the military medical system many of them already use in daily operations.

Why their input matters to healthcare

Battlefield Health is the meeting point of two disciplines Systematic has developed in parallel for decades: electronic patient records for hospitals and municipalities, and command-and-control systems for armed forces.

The same teams, the same engineering standards, and the same principles for how critical software should behave sit behind both.

When a combat medic from the front line tells us what works and what , the lessons don’t stay in the defence domain. They sharpen the way we think about clinical software in general, about how information travels between people under pressure, about what happens when data doesn’ not arrive on time, and about how a small design choice can change the outcome for a patient.

Life without a reliable handover

The medics work where there’ is no infrastructure, no stable connection, and no time to spare. They described what documentation looked like before digital tools were available on the front line.

"When we used plastic cards, we hung it around the neck with rubber band or just wrote information on the body with permanent marker. But the cards are often lost during transport and writings erase sometimes, so by the time the soldier reaches the field hospital or stabilisation point, the doctors didn't know what we'dve done. With a tablet, we can record the treatment digitally and the information is sent ahead straight away, so doctors know what to expect before the patient arrives," says Artem, one of the visiting combat medics.

Developed with the people who use it

Working closely with users is how we develop software at Systematic. Our solutions, whether for hospitals, municipal care, or military operations, are shaped together with the people who rely on them, and tested in their real working environments before going live. The visit from the Ukrainian medics is part of that approach, with the added weight that their working environment is one few others can speak to..

"To sit face to face with people who use these kinds of systems in the harshest conditions imaginable, and hear what works and what they need, is invaluable. They came to Denmark to recover, and yet they gave us something. I don't think they realise how much," says Mathis Dahlqvist, Director of Battlefield Health at Systematic.

Watch the video to learn more about Battlefield Health

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