In recent years, the use of drones in health emergencies has increased. Among their main benefits are to avoid endangering rescuers, to cover long distances in a short time and to facilitate contact with victims in risky situations. Despite its advantages, its use is not very widespread in this field, so researchers from CuiDsalud together with health emergency professionals decided to identify the available evidence on the use of drones in emergency health care compared to traditional health care, within the project Drones for Triage in medical emergencies.
To do so, a systematic literature review was conducted based on search protocols to locate experimental or quasi-experimental studies of high methodological quality, finding that drones cover a significantly larger area than other traditional tracking methods, shortening search times, and are very useful for preliminary triage, determining needs and knowing the scene before the arrival of first responders.
Since drones can improve the quality of care provided in situations where entry to the scene is initially impossible or difficult, health authorities are urged to consider their use based on the results found.
More information about this research can be found in: Sanz-Martos S, López-Franco MD, Álvarez-García C, Granero-Moya N, López-Hens JM, Cámara-Anguita S, Pancorbo-Hidalgo PL, Comino-Sanz IM. Drone applications for emergency and urgent care: a systematic review. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2022;00(00):1-7.
