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Locating AED Enabled Medical Drones to Enhance Cardiac Arrest Response Times

Aaron Pulver, Ran Wei, Clay Mann

    Prehospital Emergency Care
    |February 9, 2016
    PubMed

    Insights

    Medical drones equipped with automated external defibrillators (AEDs) can significantly reduce emergency response times for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA). A drone network can reach over 90% of cardiac arrest cases within one minute, improving survival rates.

    Area of Science:

    • Emergency Medical Services
    • Public Health
    • Geographic Information Systems

    Background:

    • Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOHCA) is a significant cause of mortality in the US, with emergency medical services (EMS) response time being critical for survival.
    • Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) improve OOHCA survival rates, but rapid delivery to the scene remains a challenge.
    • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones, offer novel applications in emergency medical services, particularly for time-sensitive interventions.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To develop a geographic strategy for deploying a network of AED-equipped medical drones to minimize travel time to OOHCA victims.
    • To achieve a goal of having at least 90% of OOHCA cases reached by a drone with an AED within one minute.
    • To optimize drone network placement for cost-efficiency while maximizing coverage.

    Main Methods:

    • Utilized geographical information systems (GIS) to model and compare travel times in Salt Lake County for traditional EMS vehicles versus a proposed drone network.
    • Employed the Maximum Coverage Location Problem (MCLP) model to determine optimal drone deployment sites for rapid response.
    • Evaluated drone deployment from existing EMS stations and potential new sites to assess coverage and cost-effectiveness.

    Main Results:

    • Traditional EMS vehicles can only reach 4.3% of OOHCA demand within one minute, though 96.4% are reachable within five minutes.
    • A drone network launched from existing EMS stations could reach 80.1% of OOHCA demand within one minute.
    • Launching drones from new, optimized sites increased one-minute coverage to 90.3%, with combined existing and new sites also achieving 90.3% coverage at reduced costs.

    Conclusions:

    • Drone networks demonstrate significant potential to drastically reduce travel times for time-critical equipment like AEDs to cardiac arrest victims.
    • Further considerations are necessary, but drone deployment represents a promising advancement in emergency medical response for OOHCA.
    • Optimized drone placement can enhance the accessibility of life-saving interventions, potentially improving patient outcomes.
    Abstract

    Keywords:
    Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; emergency medical service; cardiac arrest; geographic information systems; maximum coverage location problem

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