Skyscape, Inc., has announced the availability of the Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook from Teton NewMedia for the PDA. The content was created by the United States Special Operations Command, Office of the Command Surgeon, and over 80 medical specialists, and is now the unified reference for Special Forces combat medics in all branches of the Armed Forces.

This emergency medicine reference book is specifically designed to help medical personnel make the appropriate diagnoses and administer the proper treatments, even when they may not have access to the methods, drugs and equipment with which they would normally work. The Skyscape-powered PDA reference contains the entire content of the book, including 270 images and 50 tables. It will help medical professionals in the Armed Forces and civilians to gain access to the information they need, and provides all doctors, nurses and EMTs with a handy reference guide for when they know they will be away from their typical working environment. Most importantly, because of Skyscape’s smARTlink™ technology, the content of this book can dynamically link to content from other medical references, enabling physicians to check drug dosages, drug interactions or refer to specialty texts to gain additional insight.

“As an Internal Medicine doctor, I am frequently deployed around the world in often very remote locations. I cannot take all my favorite medical text books with me and often find myself at a loss for high quality medical references,” said Major Steven Krause, MD, US Army. “Thanks to Skyscape products I can download an endless array of medical texts to my PDA. During my last deployment to the Balkans, I used the 5 Minute Emergency Medicine Consult when taking care of a burn patient. I find Skyscape products easy to use, medically accurate, and my best battle companion.”

The Special Operation Forces Medical Handbook provides treatment protocols organized by symptoms and affected organ system, including specialty areas such as trauma, infectious disease and toxicology. It also has guides for critical procedures, surgeries and basic medical skills, with information on how to handle specific environmental hazards including altitude and temperature related illness, chemical injuries and exposures.

“Medical professionals encounter new situations every day, and the ability to access the critical information at the point of care is essential when saving minutes means saving lives,” said RJ Mathew, vice president of marketing and business development for Skyscape. “Whether a medical professional is in the Armed Forces treating casualties, or an EMT encountering an accident on a rural road, they need to have the information to handle unexpected circumstances at their fingertips – and Skyscape and the Special Forces Medical Handbook give them that ability.”