FLIR MOTION - Training tool for safe removal of patients involved in vehicle accidents

Removing a person involved in a vehicle accident from the vehicle is a risky procedure and can be a stressful situation for first responders, especially when the slightest error can change the outcome of a patient's future and health.

It is a task that demands a lot of coordination, communication and accuracy in the immobilization and stabilization technique to ensure a successful outcome, that is why proper training across first responders is essential to being more confident in their work.

Flir Motion is a tool designed for first responders' training, it helps them improve and maintain their technique with more precision. The Flir Motion system is composed of two main parts, the wearables sensors and a digital interface, both working together to offer accurate feedback during and after each training session.

By using wearable sensors, the system understands how a person's spine moves in real time and provides instant sound feedback when a poor technique is detected. Its digital interface allows first responders to review the exercise with visual feedback for a better understanding on what to improve in the next training session.

Flir Motion adapts to different training levels, it helps first responders beginners to strengthen teamwork skills and be more confident for future real life scenarios, but it also allows advanced rescuers to keep their up-to-date training.

INTRODUCTION

Flir Motion was a ten-week collaboration project between FLIR and Umeå Institute of Design, exploring and identifying relevant design opportunities for synchronized collaboration between first responders while being at an emergency site.

RESEARCH

The project was approached with a user-centered design perspective to understand and explore the activities and behaviours of first responders, which typically includes paramedics, firefighters and police officers.

We started our field research in Sandö (Sweden) where we had the opportunity to attend different training simulations of real life scenarios between first responders students. In addition, short demonstrations were carried out among mixed groups of first responders, where each of them showed how to use their tools, equipment and perform specific tasks.

Afterwards, we took part in a joint exercise with professional first responders in Umeå (Sweden), some as observers and others in the role of victims. Both experiences were valuable to have a better understanding of first responders tasks, responsibilities and challenges when working together.

Infield observations and interviews with users and experts, provided helpful insights to be able to identify relevant design opportunities that could be transformed into concepts and product solutions for future first responders collaboration.

This project was carried out in close collaboration with first responders in Umeå, which allowed us to further interview them, validate and test ideas during the whole design process.

Research videos:

Research Field Trips First-responders: https://vimeo.com/402302838

First responders exercise in Umeå: https://vimeo.com/389671469

PROJECT FOCUS

Vehicle accidents and safe removal of victims

Some of the training simulations we observed in our field research in Sandö (Sweden) involved vehicle accidents with different numbers of victims.

The victim's condition, level of entrapment, location and orientation are all major factors to take into account when deciding the best technique for immobilization and removal to protect the victim's cervical spine and avoid further injuries that can cause a possible paralysis.

It was evident from the field observations, that the task of executing the immobilization and removal of the rescue is heavily reliant on teamwork and accuracy in the technique to achieve a satisfactory result.

Therefore, training is required not only to improve the technique, but also to learn and understand one another's methods of working among different first responders. The aim of this project was to find possible design solutions focusing on training so that first responders can improve their skills and be more confident in real life situations.

PAIN POINTS

Accuracy: The current training method relies on the supervisor observation and sometimes it can be hard to know if the different techniques are being performed in a precise way by first responders.

Visibility: It is hard for the supervisor of the rescue team to spot mistakes when there are so many first responders around the victim that needs to be removed from the vehicle.

Training frequency: During some interviews with paramedics, they highlighted they do not train that often since they have a lot of calls, but they think training is essential in order to be more efficient in real accidents.

GOALS

- Help first responders to improve their skills in the removal of a critically injured person from a vehicle.

- Gain confidence and be more prepared for real life scenarios in vehicle accidents.

- Enhance coordination and performance with people you do not usually work with.

- Keep up-to-date training.

SOLUTION

When removing a critically injured person from a vehicle that has been involved in a car accident, first responders should pay special attention to the victim's head, neck and back in order to protect the cervical spine and prevent further injuries.

There are three important things to take into account during this procedure: The first one is to try to keep the spine as straight as possible otherwise the victim could suffer from paralysis, this technique is called in-line stabilization. The second one is to avoid twisting the spine since it can incapacitate the casualty for life. And the third one is the pulling, in case the victim has an internal bleeding, the pulling should be performed carefully to avoid further damage.

Flir Motion is a training tool for first responders to improve their technique on this removal procedure. The Flir Motion system is composed of two main parts, the wearables sensors and a digital interface, both working together to offer accurate feedback during and after each training session.

With the purpose of having accurate data on the movement of the cervical spine, small motion capture sensors are placed in the head, upper, middle and lower part of the back. This technology system uses inertial measurement units (IMUs) to track the movement of various joints by positioning individual sensors on two contiguous body segments.

By using these wearable sensors, the system understands how a person's spine moves in real time, visualizing those movements on a digital interface and providing instant feedback when a poor technique is detected.

The digital interface allows the supervisor of the rescue team to spot those mistakes that can be hard to see and helps first responders to review the exercise with visual feedback for a better understanding on what to improve in the next training session.

FEATURES

BACK SENSOR

Disposable patch: It allows to keep the sensors in place on the back of a person and are renewed after each training session.

Stretchable strap: The silicone strap adapts to different back sizes, keeping the sensors aligned at the same distance between one another.

Rechargeable battery

Battery level: The battery level indicator enables a fast way of checking the charging status of the battery.

UMUs sensors: These sensors track the spine position in space using accelerometers and gyroscopes.

HEAD SENSOR

Battery level: The battery level indicator enables a fast way of checking the charging status of the battery.

Rechargeable battery

Microphone: It allows to record how the team would communicate during the training session. Its position is in relation to the person holding the neck who is in charge of giving clear directions to the rest of the team.

Speaker: With instant sound feedback, first responders will know when a poor technique is performed.

Band adjustment: The head sensor can adjust to different head sizes by moving the band clip adjustment.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

- Start the App and put on the sensors: The person that will play the role of victim puts on the sensor.

- Calibrate the sensors: Calibrate the sensors through the app for optimal performance, it is important that the person does not move during this process.

- Position the team: The instructor assigns the position of each team member by dragging the photo into the grey circles. In real life scenarios, the removal of a person generally involves five first responders, one holding the neck and two on each side of the victim. The one holding the head is the "boss" and is in charge of giving clear directions to the rest of the group.

- Start the training and record the session: Sensors will track the victim's spine movement in real time reproducing a 3D model of those movements.

- Get instant feedback: The system will provide instant sound and visual feedback when a poor technique is detected.

- Review your training with your supervisor and learn from your mistakes: Once the training session is finished, the supervisor will have access to the overall training session screen. A graph will show the strongest and weakest points of the training to support the supervisor feedback to the team. The team will be able to watch the recording going back and forth in the timeline to see and learn from their mistakes.

- Track your progress: First responders will also have access to the feedback from the training session on their own devices to track their progress.

BENEFITS

- Increased accuracy when training.

- Instant sound and visual feedback.

- Engaging training.

- Trackable progress.

- Easy to set-up.

- Portability.

VALUE

This training tool not only serves first responders beginners as a guidance tool, but it also helps advanced first responders to keep them up-to-date. Beginners training will be more focused on understanding each other's tasks, learning the right technique and how to communicate and coordinate as a team, while advanced training will focus on the precision of the technique and time.