Design and Evaluation of a New Medical Bag.

摘要

Concerns have been raised that the 1950 s design of the Airborne Pouch medical bag, currently employed in the Canadian Forces Medical Branch, is outdated and no longer suitable for the specialized equipment needs and roles of today s Med Techs, is incompatible with the integrated Clothe the Soldier (CTS) load carriage system, and has insufficient capacity. A program was undertaken to pursue the design of a replacement medical load carriage system that could integrate with the CTS load carriage system. A needs analysis and a series of design iterations and testing with experienced Med Techs resulted in the design of a new prototype MedBag. The new prototype underwent a series of user acceptance trials. The results of these field trials confirmed the deficiencies with the Airborne Pouch and most Med Techs judged the Airborne Pouch to be unacceptable (86-89%). In contrast, the prototype MedBag was judged to be very acceptable by all Med Techs (100%). The MedBag was rated highly for comfort, pack weight, balance, and stability, packing and organizing contents, medical and most infantry tasks, compatibility with clothing and the tactical vest, and its appearance. Several minor design suggestions were also provided by Med Techs during focus group discussions. These suggestions were reviewed by the Medical Branch and a final MedBag design was confirmed.