Is There A Future For Drones In Healthcare?

The threat COVID has posed ever since it first appeared influenced how healthcare operates on many levels. It triggered a rapid expansion in health technology – some obvious, like the rise of telemedicine or at-home lab tests, others filled a much-needed immediate void. The demand for safe solutions inclined the development of robotic support in hospitals – and drones. I must admit, I expected the rise of drone-based solutions years ago (and I wasn’t alone with my expectations). By now, we are just at the very beginning of using drones in healthcare. And still, even now, when COVID-19 clearly showed the necessity for them, drones don’t seem to break through and stay with us in the new normal. In a UNICEF guidance note, the organisation identifies three basic types of potential use cases for drones:(1) delivery and transportation; (2) aerial disinfection, and (3) public space monitoring. During the pandemic, we have seen examples for all three cases – and more. Let’s see what the options are for drones in the future. Source: blog.werobotics.org Drones in delivery and transport of medical supplies Drone delivery of medical supplies or even vaccines existed years before the pandemic. American startup Zipline was delivering such supplies in Rwanda already in 2016. Conducting the first round of drone test flight in 2018, WakeMed Health & Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina, together with the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Divisi...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Covid-19 Forecast Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Future of Medicine Healthcare Design Healthcare Policy Portable Medical Diagnostics Robotics Security & Privacy Telemedicine & Smartphones drones telehealth medical drones mon Source Type: blogs