Emergency Drone System Displays Effective EMS and Rescue Applications

Unmanned aerial vehicles for EMS & rescue applications Drone systems have a strong potential to facilitate lifesaving medical interventions, such as transporting and delivering an AED. Photos courtesy Andreas Claesson Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) affects nearly 360,000 individuals in the United States and about 300,000 in Europe each year. Survival rates are low.1,2 In Sweden, 5,312 OHCA cases were reported to the Swedish register for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (SRCR) during 2016.3 CPR was initiated either spontaneously by bystanders, guided from the dispatch center through telephone CPR or on arrival of EMS, which took place after a median of 13 minutes from cardiac arrest.3 Overall 30-day survival was 11% (n = 577) and a majority of these (93%) had a favorable neurological outcome, with a cerebral performance category (CPC) score of 1–2.3 Time to treatment with a defibrillator is the single most important factor for survival, and each minute without CPR treatment decreases the chance of survival by 10%.4,5 Early use of a defibrillator within the first five minutes has a potential to save up to 50–70% of all patients suffering from an OHCA.6,7
Source: JEMS Operations - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Operations Source Type: news