Behind-The-Scenes: Creating Our New Med Bag

FOAMed by CRO Medical

Behind-The-Scenes: Creating Our New Med Bag

July 12, 2021

The DCR Panel is our newest evidence-based first-line aid bag. Following our drive to bring the best evidence-based concepts to the industry, this bag defines how a clip-on med bag should function — two words, FLAT STRAPS!!!

The Concept

The shape of the DCR Panel’s back panel was actually designed for a TACSKED litter carrier project. Although we ended up with backlash from assaulters wanting to carry litters (shocking), we saw the function of the design (still in the works) and knew we had to make it into a med bag. It’s always cool to see one project feeding the next with a healthy R&D program.. anyway.

This bag is designed to be primarily clipped in at all times, unless you’re resuscitating. When it’s time to get going, you have flat straps that you can grab to sling and start moving immediately. Designed off the JPC, it integrates well into your ballistic plates and is created to be used in conjunction with a MARCH Belt setup, which has been widely adopted across the SOF spectrum.

Most of the time, you’re going to perform your first 10 mins of treatments from your belt setup. However, when you need to resuscitate with blood, we’ve optimized the placement of your single unit storage container, and the blood admin pouch on the outside, so you never have to go into the bag… hopefully. Everyone wants a slim bag for DA, but if you use a bulky blood container, carrying even the stripped down Blood Boxx or Pelican is an inefficient way to pack– poor use of cubes. This is why we decided to go with external single unit storage, which is a departure from the norm based on current SOP’s from units carrying whole blood. The outside pouch is designed for IV/IO access, inline warmer, pressure infuser, all blood admin supplies, plus drugs, and works well for rapidly deploying the first unit at POI.

We designed the DCR Panel with a briefcase opening, giving you an awesome work station. The inside is designed around two critical pieces of gear – your junctional tourniquet and BVM. By building around these large, bulky items, we’ve ensured that these two large-cube items seamlessly integrate, making a slim, yet highly capable design.

The Design Process

Every new product starts with pulling the best designs and concepts from other projects. We put all of our desired features together into our 2D AutoCAD program and create a flat pattern. From here, we use our laser cutter to develop all the proposed pattern pieces and create our first build.

We know we’re going to meet a ton of issues in our first build, so we treat it as a throwaway to take measurements off of and revisit the pattern to make the adjustments. By the second iteration, we have a workable solution. Then we start adding and subtracting features that don’t make sense. This includes everything from increasing or decreasing stiffeners to adding handles, addressing how clips or straps are attached, to addressing overall functionality.

“We started with the JPC carbon fiber back panel, then we measured and got the cubic volume from resuscitative equipment that needed to fit inside. Our driving principle was the external access to blood because we’re going to use the SOP for resuscitation with blood: 1. bilateral below the knee AMPS 2. unilateral above the knee amputations 3. Any bleed in the “box” with MOI and S/S of hypovolemic shock.”

This project will define what a POI med bag should be and look like, continuing our evidence-based approach to treatment in the field. We’d love to know what you think.

DCR Med Bag: Available Now

Shop Now: $450

FOAMed by CRO Medical