Combat wound care faces challenges that need to be fully addressed in a next-generation approach to smart combat wound care management:
‍(i) Severity of Injury: Combat wounds are often severe, resulting from high-energy trauma such as gunshot wounds, explosions, or shrapnel injuries.These injuries can involve extensive tissue damage, bone fractures, and damage to vital organs, which can make wound care complex and challenging.
‍(ii) Limited resources: In combat situations, medical resources can be limited, hindering the ability to provide timely and adequate wound care, leading to potential complications such as infection, delayed healing, and increased morbidityand mortality rates.
(iii) Contamination and infection risk: with debris, dirt, bacteria, and environmental pathogens including fungus, and exposure to unsterile environments in the field.
(iv) Hemorrhage control: is a critical aspect of combat wound care, as severe bleeding can lead to life-threatening complications, and rapid and effective hemorrhage control measures, such as tourniquet application and hemostatic agents, are not always readily available in combat situations.
(v) Evolving nature of injuries: Combat wound patterns may evolve, and healthcare providers need to continually adapt their wound care approaches to address changing injury patterns, which can be challenging to assess and measure.
(vi) Complex Care Coordination: managing complex multi-system injuries and coordinating care are challenging, particularly in austere or remote settings.