Defense News

Media reference materials for the 5^th week routine press conference in July 2019, MND

Ⅰ. Press Conference Topic:

1. Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things Development Center of the Tri-Service General Hospital

2. Military Medical Research and Development Achievement – Simulation System for the Disposal of Mass Casualty and Incident

Ⅱ. Host: Military Spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defense – Major General Shi Shun-wen

Ⅲ. Media Reference Materials:

Theme 1: Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things Development Center of the Tri-Service General Hospital

As digital technology impacts the healthcare industry, the medical field has already been welcomed with big data, artificial intelligence, and internet of things in the midst of innovation of various information technology. To promote intelligent medical services, the Tri-Service General Hospital began shifting towards the goal of being an AI hospital, and has formed the “Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things Development Center” under the support of the Medical Affairs Bureau and the collaboration with the National Defense Medical Center.

Through the conception proposed by clinical staffs, as well as the information software and hardware technology required for artificial intelligence algorithm that is provided by the information department, the establishment of the center has integrated cross-system medical information and data, and practically applied it onto clinical medical behaviors. Apart from covering the hospital end, the development objectives of the center are also integrated vertically and outwardly, and focus on the all-around health care to provide more high quality medical services for the patients, so as to lay down another milestone in intelligent medicine. After the establishment of the center, the first phase will prioritize on 3 applications:

AI Medical Imaging Interpretation: the accuracy of AI interpretation on medical imaging domestically and internationally has continued to improve in recent years, and the Tri-Service General Hospital has long begun relevant research on AI medical imaging interpretation, including analysis on medical imaging such as AI chest X-ray interpretation, AI ophthalmoscope interpretation, and AI electrocardiography interpretation. The fast and high precision attributes of AI medical imaging interpretation can be used for auxiliary medical decision information during emergency, effectively reducing human error and workload of medical staffs, as well as elevating the satisfaction of patients after recovery and work efficiency.  

AI Medical Record Interpretation: the physician medical record system or relevant analysis system of the medical records department is incorporated through the AI word analysis attribute and the natural language analysis technology. Take discharge summary as an example, it automatically conducts diagnosis coding for international diseases through the assistance of AI interpretation, which prevents young resident physicians or disease analysts to lower the coding precision during medical record coding caused by inadequate experience, as well as significantly increases work efficiency.

Integration of IOT Information: incorporating AI chatbots into voice registration services, report entry, and course system. In addition, relevant medical information and data of patients is collected and integrated through the IOT and communication technology as well as the application of 5G, then the diagnosis and treatment information is provided to medical staffs after it is further analyzed, in order to assist with medical decision and judgment.

The Tri-Service General Hospital is equipped with medical technology in clinical medicine that synchronizes with top global hospitals, as well as incorporated AI into various clinical fields, including automatic AI electrocardiography interpretation, chest X-ray abnormality diagnosis, and disease classification auxiliary system. Take the AI electrocardiography interpretation as an example, the system was solely researched and developed by the Tri-Service General Hospital, and its automatic detection has an accuracy of more than 90%. The hospital plans to establish the Armed Forces Imaging and Analysis Center in 2021 to integrate the medical imaging from military hospitals nationwide, and hopes to use AI to assist with medicine, precision medicine, and intelligent hospital management by applying the advantages of 5G technology incorporation and AI analysis, as well as embody relevant technology into the entire Armed Forces hospital system, in order to benefit patients who consult military hospitals nationwide.

Theme 2: Military Medical Research and Development Achievement – Simulation System for the Disposal of Mass Casualty and Incident

The National Defense Medical Center attended the “Korea WiC World Invention Innovation Contest” for the first time, where it used VR technology to research and develops the “Simulation System for the Disposal of Mass Casualty and Incident”, which was awarded with 1 gold medal and 1 special award. Relevant explanations are as follows:

1. Doctor Chen Ying-xin led the innovation and invention team to the Taipei Mission in Korea, Seoul, on 14^th June, where they conducted VR exchange in CPR+AED, and the Simulation System for the Disposal of Mass Casualty and Incident, with envoy Yi Zhi-cheng and fellow colleagues, which successfully completed the people-to-people diplomacy in emergency education.

2. Korea has been performing well in the global industry and economy in recent years, and through various innovative and closely integrated professional work division as well as licensing of intellectual property rights, invigorated the Korean Wave that swept the globe. The annual Korea WiC World Invention Innovation Contest in particular provides an exchange platform for inventors and research scholars from all over the world to display their excellent and imaginative creations. 

3. The highlight of the contest this time lied on the fact that it was the first participation from the “National Defense Medical Center”, and that the handler of the invention team is Doctor Chen Ying-xin, a doctor of the emergency department in the “Tri-Service General Hospital” and the director of the emergency department in the “Hualien Armed Forces General Hospital”, who engaged in educational training for many years and had served as first line medical staff, and for the first time led the team that consists of personnel including teaching assistant Hsu Hsiu-chu, and respiratory therapist Li Jing-yi, to attend the “Korea WiC World Invention Innovation Contest”.

4. Technical advantage of the military medical research and development system: in order to reduce the substantial loss of lives and assets caused by disasters, the system especially uses VR technology to research and develop the Simulation System for the Disposal of Mass Casualty and Incident, incorporate training and educational fields of disaster medicine, establish mass casualty settings and ambient sound, train cadets’ stress resistance to the environment, and train cadets’ on-site disposal capability using speech recognition technology. Operators are able to control the disposal procedure through audio, and users are able to simulate commanding personnel to cultivate commanding talents for mass injuries, which effectively reduces casualty. This simulation system utilizes VR technology to achieve the requirements of simulated scenarios through relatively lower costs.

5. The historical “Korean WiC World Invention Innovation Contest” attracts numerous participants each year, and more than 10 countries participated this year, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cyprus, and Japan. Among the 418 creations, the creation by the National Defense Medical Center was awarded with 1 gold medal and 1 special award, and the specific creation was also awarded with the 15^th Inward in 2018 for its outstanding performance.