The trial aims to see whether drones can deliver AEDs to patients faster than traditional emergency services.
Monique Starks, a cardiologist and associate professor at Duke University School of Medicine, said that cardiac arrest is often mistaken for a heart attack but is far more severe.
“Cardiac arrest is a dangerous heart condition due to an abnormal rhythm, where the person immediately becomes unconscious, and there’s only 10 minutes to make a difference in helping that person to survive. It’s commonly confused with a heart attack, which is very different,” Starks said. “A heart attack is when there’s a blockage in the heart’s artery. The difference there is you have hours to get to the hospital, whereas you only have 10 minutes to make a difference with cardiac arrest.”
As cardiac arrest patients require immediate care, Starks said the goal of the drone research is to enable bystanders at the scene of the emergency to have access to an AED and treat the patient before first-responders are able to arrive.
“We want to get that AED to the bystander upon a call so that they can rapidly shock a cardiac arrest patient to help them survive,” Starks said. “In our research, we have partnered with Forsyth County to integrate drone AED delivery into the standard of care, such that when first responders and EMS are dispatched, a drone pilot dispatches a drone to fly rapidly to the scene to get that AED to a bystander in hopes that they will use it several minutes before EMS or first responders arrive.”
Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr. said once a 911 call is in, drone pilots can launch the drone.
“The person is on the phone with the 911 operator. They’re guiding them, letting them know what to do, what to expect. The drone is in flight with the AED attached. Minutes later, the drone appears in the sky — not a bird, not a plane, not Superman, a drone and an AED, and it’s delivering an AED, which is lifesaving in a critical situation,” Kimbrough said.
Kimbrough said Forsyth County has used drones with first responders in other ways.
“We’ve been able to launch drones as first responders. In other words, when a call comes in, we are able to dispatch our drones. The drones get there before the patrol car gets there, so we see what’s happening in real time,” Kimbrough said.
A drone has travel advantages over vehicles following ground traffic patterns, Starks said.
“It flies unimpeded at 40 miles per hour, and even greater with different drone systems, to get to the site of cardiac arrest. We have been able to do research to strategically position drones to lower the response times from about six to seven minutes to less than four minutes, and that is really important in rural areas, where response times may be 10 to 12 minutes. We’re able to significantly lower that,” Starks said.
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