Neurotechnology and Operational Medicine - Neurotechnology in National Security and Defense - page 74

with individualized parameters (or data) is sufficient to predict the help-seeking
behavior and the clinical courses of individual patients for a class of medical care
scenarios. Within the context of the model, the parameters are a predictive meta-
data representation of the behavior, and hence, a parsimonious representation of the
patient's medical status in electronic personal records. This raises many questions.
Does model representation (either parameters alone or parameters plus model) qual-
ify as personal data that are subject to the privacy rule under the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)? Does a set of parameters
(or parameters plus model), linking treatments with individual outcomes of many
patients with a particular condition, qualify as a Patient Safety Work Product under
Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005? Could the models and data
be used for biometric identification or profiling? Do the parameters for key decision
makers have intelligence value, either for actions directed against the individuals,
for sabotaging response capabilities or for revealing vulnerabilities to further a foe's
operational goals? It is likely that the answers to these (and related) questions will
depend upon the results obtained with neurotechnology-based simulation systems.
Building resilience into operational medicine . Neurotechnology-based computa-
tional hybrid models have the capability to facilitate the design of psychologically resil-
ient operational networks. This goal can be realized by a direct application of research
from the area termed “psychotraumatology,” which examines factors that enhance psy-
chological resilience in the face of traumatic experiences. Growth through adver-
sity is a term that describes the positive adaptations and adjustments that can emerge
in the process of living through traumatic and threatening situations (Joseph and
Linley 2005). Linley (2003) has made the interesting assertion that three dimensions
of wisdom contribute to these positive adaptations to adverse events: (1) the recogni-
tion of and ability to operate under conditions of uncertainty, (2) the development of
a sense of connected detachment (“integration of affect and cognition”), and (3) the
recognition and acceptance of human limitations. It is significant to note that these
aspects of wisdom can emerge from the operations of the schema in Figure 6.1b. The
first two dimensions represent interactions between interoceptive and cognitive com-
ponents. The third dimension is equivalent to the cognizance of bounded rationality
and the recognition that all human decisions are merely satisficing. The challenge is
to design interfaces to convey this view to operational medicine responders and man-
agers such that psychological resilience is embedded in the daily practices of opera-
tional medicine. If executed correctly, such a simulation platform has the potential
to serve as an inductive teaching tool to inculcate the wisdom that lies at the heart of
resilience in the face of adversity.
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