Madison Melton - Department of Emergency Medicine
As technology advances and costs decrease, the use of drones has skyrocketed. They have become routine in many areas like farming, public safety, and delivery services. Healthcare utilization, however, has been slower to catch on despite its great potential in improving access and efficiency.
“The use of drone technology in emergency medicine is especially promising given the need for a rapid response to enhance patient outcomes” [1]. They are already used for search and rescue operations, mass casualty events, and natural disasters. Current research is focused on delivering defibrillators, rescue medications, and blood products to emergencies.
Each year in the US, there are hundreds of thousands of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, “with survival at around only 10%” [1]. However, when a bystander can perform CPR or use an AED prior to EMS arrival, the “survival probability doubles” [1]. Studies on the utilization of drones showed faster AED delivery than ambulance arrival times and pedestrian AED retrieval, which has important implications on improving patient outcomes.
Research on the delivery of rescue medications like naloxone or EpiPens demonstrated “that a drone reduced the average delivery time by 78.8%” [1]. Drones can also deliver blood and blood products to the site of a trauma, where transfusion can reduce the rate of mortality due to uncontrolled hemorrhage - “the leading cause of preventable death in trauma” [1].
Despite these promising results, there are numerous challenges to increasing drone use in healthcare like safety, patient privacy, and effective development and incorporation. Overall, drones are a promising, cost-effective approach for “improving patient survival, outcomes, and quality of life, particularly for those in areas that are remote or that lack funds or infrastructure” [1]. Yet, further research, technological advances, and integration into existing 9-1-1 and EMS systems are necessary to ensure this growth.
References:
Johnson AM, Cunningham CJ, Arnold E, Rosamond WD, Zègre-Hemsey JK. Impact of Using Drones in Emergency Medicine: What Does the Future Hold? Open Access Emergency Medicine. 2021;Volume 13:487-498. https://doi.org/10.2147/oaem.s247020
Edited By: Firas Batrash, Editor-in-Chief
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