Ukrainian combat medics give feedback on Danish system for wounded soldiers

50 combat medics from the Ukrainian front line visited Danish software company Systematic in Aarhus this week to see and provide feedback on a Danish-built military medical system for wounded soldiers.

For the past two and a half years, Ukrainian combat medics have been working with a combination of paper or plastic documentation and digital solutions, developed and implemented under extremely challenging conditions.

"When we used plastic cards, we hung it around the neck with rubber thread or just wrote information on 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 don't know what we've 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 patient come," says Artem, one of the visiting combat medics.

The system the medics were shown, SitaWare Battlefield Health, is designed to support the entire evacuation process and ensure that health data follows the soldier digitally - from first treatment at the point of injury, through transport, to reception at the field hospital and on to a civilian hospital. It also gives medical staff an overview of how many casualties are in transit, what condition they are in, and when they will arrive - so they can prepare.

Frontline feedback

With Battlefield Health, Systematic draws on its experience developing military command-and-control systems and electronic patient records for the healthcare sector – and the experience and knowledge from the Ukrainian experts makes a significant difference.

"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.

In Denmark to recover

The medics are in Denmark as part of a mental health recovery programme run by the NGO Repower. A total of 100 Ukrainian combat medics and doctors are spending two weeks in Silkeborg to regain their strength after serving on the front line.

"Our medics save lives under fire. Today it is our turn to take care of them," says Kateryna Serdiuk, co-founder of Repower.