Drones have proven useful in a number of different commercial settings and one of the areas where there is a lot of potential for growth is within the medical industry.
Researchers around the globe have already been investigating the possibilities when it comes to incorporating drone technology into the medical space, particularly with the task of delivering necessary medical supplies in rural areas and following natural disasters etc.
The scientists in Sweden who conducted the study to investigate the possibility for using drones to help heart attack patients, just recently published their findings in the JAMA medical journal.
At the moment, many individuals who suffer from a heart attack are going to place a call to the emergency services, which will then dispatch a vehicle to them or depending on their area it might take a (very costly) helicopter flight.
The study sought to investigate the possibilities of using drones to deliver AED equipment to heart attack patients, the drone would be sent out instead of an ambulance. The AED equipment is the automated external defibrillator and they say that the drone would be able to carry this equipment to the scene; equipped with instructions for those standing by on how they can use it to help those who need the assistance following their attack.
It's estimated that the use of an AED within the first 3 minutes of a heart attack/cardiac arrest, could help to increase the chances of survival for the individual by as much as 75 percent. Therefore, the longer that it takes to get to that equipment to the individual, the survival rate obviously decreases.
According to the American Heart Association, for every minute that passes it reduces the chances of survival from anywhere between 7 percent to 10 percent. EVERY SECOND COUNTS. And if the drones can shave minutes off the delivery time, it's clear they are the superior choice that can help to save more lives.
They found that the drones were able to outperform the ambulances by a median of 16 minutes.
After the emergency call gets placed, researchers said it took the ambulance minutes to be dispatched, whereas it only took the drones seconds to get up in the air and on its way.
When it comes to ambulances, most patients aren't even aware that they often will have to pay for this cost and it isn't cheap. Especially for those who end-up having to take an emergency hospital flight, it can leave them with a bill that is thousands of dollars. So not only could the drones save lives but they could also help to save the consumer money.
Drones have already been successful at delivering a variety of goods in the market, a variety of food products, mail packages, and also medical supplies around the world. When they aren't being used in unjust wars to leave countries in ruin, there really is a lot of good that they could do for the world in terms of raising our standard of living, making services more efficient, and even helping to save lives.
Pics:
Pixabay
Research Communications and Public Relations Texas A&M via research.tamu.edu/2016/05/11/lab-on-a-drone-could-improve-management-of-disease-outbreaks/
Iridia Medical
Sources:
http://fortune.com/2017/06/13/drone-heart-attack-ambulance/
http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2631520
https://www.recode.net/2016/9/23/13034774/ups-drone-medical-delivery-atlantic-island
https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/2/12350274/zipline-drone-delivery-us-launch-blood-medicine
http://blog.iridiamedical.com/tag/aed/page/3/
https://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-public/@wcm/@adv/documents/downloadable/ucm_301646.pdf
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