Drone Delivery of an Automated External Defibrillator

Each year, approximately 350,000 people in the United States experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, with only about 10% surviving. The chance of survival doubles with bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) use before emergency medical services (EMS) arrive, but AED use by bystanders occurs in less than 2% of cases. Survival is most probable when CPR and defibrillation are administered within 5 minutes of cardiac arrest onset; however, the median EMS arrival time in the U.S. is 8 minutes, extending to 30 minutes in remote areas. A randomized trial was conducted involving 35 tests in a community setting, comparing AED delivery by an autonomously flying drone with a bystander searching for a fixed-location AED. Simulated cardiac arrests used a mannequin with two participants: one called a mock 911 telecommunicator to initiate drone flight, while the other simultaneously searched for a ground-based AED. The study found that the difference in median AED delivery time between drone delivery and ground search varied by zone, ranging from 2 minutes 56 seconds (zone E) to 1 minute 42 seconds (zone D). Zone D, with the shortest mean distance to an AED (77 m), had the shortest ground search time. These results indicate that the relative timeliness of drone delivery versus ground search depends on the physical setting. Among participants assigned to call for the drone, 89% reported comfort with the drone's approach, while nearly half of those in the ground search group reported difficulty finding an AED. All participants expressed willingness to use a drone-delivery system for an AED in a real out-of-hospital cardiac arrest event

Each year, approximately 350,000 people in the United States experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, with only about 10% surviving. The chance of survival doubles with bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) use before emergency medical services (EMS) arrive, but AED use by bystanders occurs in less than 2% of cases. Survival is most probable when CPR and defibrillation are administered within 5 minutes of cardiac arrest onset; however, the median EMS arrival time in the U.S. is 8 minutes, extending to 30 minutes in remote areas. A randomized trial was conducted involving 35 tests in a community setting, comparing AED delivery by an autonomously flying drone with a bystander searching for a fixed-location AED. Simulated cardiac arrests used a mannequin with two participants: one called a mock 911 telecommunicator to initiate drone flight, while the other simultaneously searched for a ground-based AED. The study found that the difference in median AED delivery time between drone delivery and ground search varied by zone, ranging from 2 minutes 56 seconds (zone E) to 1 minute 42 seconds (zone D). Zone D, with the shortest mean distance to an AED (77 m), had the shortest ground search time. These results indicate that the relative timeliness of drone delivery versus ground search depends on the physical setting. Among participants assigned to call for the drone, 89% reported comfort with the drone's approach, while nearly half of those in the ground search group reported difficulty finding an AED. All participants expressed willingness to use a drone-delivery system for an AED in a real out-of-hospital cardiac arrest event