John Sarbanes: “at present, the military lacks a process in which emerging medical technologies can be adapted and tested in real time…”

“at present, the military lacks a process in which emerging medical technologies can be adapted and tested in real time emergency situations that replicate high velocity and surgical care settings. With the assistance of the Senator from Hawaii, Congress last year appropriated $2.5 million to begin development of a national test bed to implement the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command's ``Operating Room of the Future'' strategy to remedy this situation. This test bed, to be based at the University of Maryland Medical Center, aims to improve the performance of these emerging technologies and expedite their transfer to medical care in the battlefield. This will be done via testing new approaches to video-assisted coordination, synchronized communications, mobile computing options, telesurgery techniques and distance learning. While spearheaded by UMMC, this program is linked via a number of collaborations with both industry and the military. In its fiscal year 2003 Defense appropriations bill, the House has included $3 million of the $9 million necessary to continue work on the Operating Room of the Future initiative.”