The NIGHTINGALE project, funded by the European Union, conducted its 1st Full-Scale Exercise (1st FSX) on June 9, 2024, in Villejust, France. This exercise aimed to test the NIGHTINGALE innovative technologies designed to enhance pre-hospital life support and triage during mass casualty incidents, simulated as multiple terrorist attacks. Organised and hosted by Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (APHP-SAMU) in collaboration with various European research and technology organisations, the exercise involved a diverse group of volunteers, including emergency medical services and civic volunteers.
Participants tested various NIGHTINGALE tools, such as mobile applications for patient monitoring, incident management solutions, augmented reality glasses, and thermographic scanning systems as well as the Triage app and platform developed by our team, ISense Group. These technologies are intended to improve coordination among emergency response agencies, enable quick and accurate triaging, and allow citizens to submit alerts during emergencies.
The exercise’s role in testing these technologies in a realistic setting and the importance of cooperation between technical teams and end users were the key elements of the success of the 1st FSX. The insights gained will be used to refine the NIGHTINGALE toolkit and inform future exercises, aiming to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of emergency responses, ultimately saving more lives.
In conjunction with the 1st FSX, the NIGHTINGALE 1st International Workshop on Prehospital Tools in Mass Casualty Incidents successfully took place two days earlier on June 7, 2024 in the same location and virtually. The workshop examined the NIGHTINGALE Core Objectives through interactive sessions with input from leading experts aiming to realise usefulness, benefits and challenges. The workshop was organised by MRMID Association, and included expert attendance from the NHS and WHO.
Spyros Athanasiadis, the Project Manager, George Vosinakis and Kostas Stavrou (developers of our solutions) represented our team in both events coordinating important parts of the FSX and of the Workshop’s discussions.
More details can be found on the project’s website: https://www.nightingale-triage.eu/