Award-winning mobile medical care
concept by Max Holstein

"It wasn't just a matter of designing a self-driving car with a highly practical interior, but rather the development of a holistic care system including an entire fleet of vehicles which require maintenance, equipment and logistics."

 

Translated quote by the Jury of the Mia Seeger Award 2020

 

 

AMUV, the Autonomous Medical Utility Vehicle, is a mobile concept for medical care in rural areas that have a decreasing infrastructure. The vehicle is equipped with specialist medical modules which allow to counteract multimorbidity and enable a flexible reaction to the demand of particular medical services. In addition the AMUV meets the requirements of a modern workplace and offers a patient-oriented interior.

 

Background

Increasing depopulation is causing a lack of medical care in rural areas. This is especially true for elderly people who need different doctors due to multimorbidity. The distances to the practitioners are becoming increasingly longer, because rural communities and the provincial doctor as a work concept do not represent an attractive perspective for many young doctors anymore.

 

Interior conception

The design therefore has to address the patient's needs as well as needs of the medical staff. The vehicle is segmented in an Entrance and Orientation zone, a medical workspace and the cosy patient area. The patient and his needs are the focus of attention. A homely, familiar interior not only reflects the health lifestyle trend, it also helps patients suffering from dementia to find their way around and increases acceptance by the familiar surroundings.

 

 

 

Operation

A neural network for the analysis of patient data calculates the probable need for certain specialist medical services in a care community in the coming weeks through real-time data analysis. This results in a weekly timetable, whereupon the AMUV travels to the communities at night, autonomously and in an energy-saving manner with the respective specialist module. In the morning the AMUV is ready to be operated on site.

In the operational state, the module units brought along have shifted sideways to the outside and clear the interior for treatment. Two specialist containers of the unit are supplemented by a laboratory module and the workplace module. The latter has a private compartment and a laundry box that is emptied weekly. These four modules will be operated by a qualified community care worker. This care worker also includes the role of the reference person on site, while the doctor only appears for diagnosis in the sense of telemedicine.

 

After one day the utility vehicle moves on to the next community in the care district. A larger number of vehicles will enable a more flexible and individual supply service for the increasing lack of infrastructure in rural areas.

 

 

The mobile medical care AMUV concept for rural areas was developed during the course of a Master Thesis.