The article "Drones May Become 'The Next Big Thing' In Healthcare Delivery", written by Balasubramanian (2022), introduces the uses and impact drones have on the healthcare sector. He started off the article by mentioning a real-life case study article published by the European Heart Journal (2021), where the successful delivery rate of drones to Out-of-Hospital cardiac arrest patients was 92%. Through the advancement of drone technology, medical supplies such as Automated External Defibrillators (AED) will be able to arrive in a timely manner. Balasubramanian also discussed a case of an elderly in Sweden who suffered from cardiac arrest in December 2021, and it took just over three minutes for an AED to be swiftly delivered from the time the alarm sounded. To sum off, Balasubramaniam asserts that with the promising future drones have and he mentioned that many sectors such as retail are also testing and researching to cater to their needs. With more users, the cost of drone technology will drop and this creates opportunities for more healthcare organizations to utilize drones at a more advanced stage and cheaper rate.
In my opinion, drone technology has proven to have the
capability to improve healthcare delivery through both transportation of
healthcare supplies and acting as a platform for healthcare professionals to
give accurate diagnoses and advice to patients during delivery. With these advantages, some critics on the disagreeing
end believe that drones would not be sustainable due to weather conditions and
flight regulations.
Drones can improve healthcare delivery through transportation of supplies such as vaccines and time-crucial medical samples. According to Netscribes (2022), drones allow vaccines to be reachable for remote areas and this allows speedier vaccination administration especially for cases like the pandemic. This is likely because drones can fly at a high altitude, avoiding resistance such as traffic jams and uneven terrains. According to an article by Singh (2022, para ?), “Drones can zip over traffic”; thus they can deliver twenty times faster than land delivery. A report by Supply Chain (2022) claims that to this day, more than 220,000 doses of vaccines have been successfully distributed in rural areas such as Africa, overcoming challenges such as their low storage temperature. The report also mentioned that in Rwanda, drones owned by the company Zipline transported blood to 350 healthcare facilities and decreased wastage of 95%. This illustrates that as drone travel through air, have lesser resistance to deal with compared to land delivery and thus is more efficient. It is evident that drones reduced the wastage percentage for healthcare supplies and increased the success rate of healthcare supplies delivery, thus making significant improvement to healthcare delivery.
Another capability of drones is their ability to act as a platform for healthcare professionals to give accurate diagnosis and advice to patients during delivery, in short telehealth. According to Southwick (2022), telemedicine diagnosis has an accuracy of 86.9% as compared to in-person diagnosis. The drones are equipped with cameras and display screens for communication between medical professionals and patient in their home (Balasubramaniam, 2022) and they are also of appropriate size to manuever around tight areas in houses (Miller, 2021). This gives healthcare professionals the flexibility of giving consultations without the need to travel. According to Miller (2021), this is necessary for patients during the pandemic as it acts as an in-person care especially for people who live alone. As healthcare experts are able to monitor the living and health conditions of patients, this allows them to be more precise in the medicine they prescribe and instruct the patients on the application of medicine. Therefore, through this 2-way communication method, healthcare delivery through drones would be more accurate compared to current delivery methods without this form of supervision.
At the same time, drones have its drawback which relates to weather conditions. According to Posea (2023), factors in the air such as wind, humidity and density can impact the flight as the drones only can withstand 13 to 18 mph of wind at most and it might consume more battery life to overcome the resistance. As there is more consumption of battery, there would be an increase in charging periods and down time. According to an article by UniEnergy Technology (n.d), flying drones in harsh conditions frequently drains the battery. As a result, drones would only be dispatched when there is optimal weather conditions otherwise their batteries would be damaged faster and the drones might even get lost. Since weather condition are unpredictable, the accuracy of timely delivery would be affected.
Another downside would be flight regulations. According to a webpage in the US Federal Aviation Administration News (2016, Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems section, para. 107.33), unmanned systems are allowed “to fly up to 400 feet, but they have to stay within visual line of sight.” This means that during the delivery of supplies, healthcare operators have to be around the drones and this would not be possible for delivery to rural areas. According to Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (2023), the height restriction applies to areas such as no-fly zones and unmanned aircraft flying areas, which are mostly government buildings and parks. This implies the drone sent out for delivery might need to take an alternative route if it is unable to travel through restricted areas and this compromises the time and efficiency for delivery of critical supplies such as blood and vaccines.
In conclusion, the use of drones contributes significantly to healthcare delivery through the transportation of supplies and the accurate diagnosis and advice for patients during delivery. However, both weather and flight regulations are still big factors affecting the accuracy of delivery. As drone tech is still a new and ever-growing technology though, steady advancements will help accelerate the development of healthcare drones.
References
Balasubramanian, S. (2022,
Jan 9). Drones May Become ‘The Next Big Thing’ In Healthcare Delivery. Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/saibala/2022/01/09/drones-may-become-the-next-big-thing-in-healthcare-delivery/?sh=9357ddd1e9b3
Civil Aviation
Authority of Singapore. (2023, Jan 31). No-Fly zones and Unmanned
Aircraft Flying area.
https://www.caas.gov.sg/public-passengers/unmanned-aircraft/permitted-flying-areas-and-no-fly-zones
Cohen
Healthcare. (n.d). Healthcare Compliance Issues for Medical Drones.
https://cohenhealthcarelaw.com/2022/10/healthcare-compliance-issues-for-medical-drones/
Federal Aviation
Administration. (2016, June 21). SUMMARY OF SMALL UNMANNED AIRCRAFT RULE
(PART 107) .
https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2021-08/Part_107_Summary.pdf
Joshi, S. (2022,
July 9). Faster Deliveries: Are Drones the Answer? Supply
& Demand Chain Executive.
https://www.sdcexec.com/software-technology/emerging-technologies/article/22327025/fareye-faster-deliveries-are-drones-the-answer
Miller, M.
(2021, Mar 15). New UC telehealth drone makes house calls. UC News.
https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2021/03/virtual-medicine--new-uc-telehealth-drone-makes-house-calls.html
Netscribes.
(2022, Feb 15). Drones in healthcare: The ‘next big thing’ for care delivery.
https://www.netscribes.com/drones-in-healthcare/
Posea, P.
(2023). Can Drones Fly in Strong Winds? Dronesgator.
https://dronesgator.com/can-drones-fly-in-strong-winds/
Southwick, R.
(2022, Sep 12). Telehealth diagnosis shows high level of accuracy,
study finds. Chief Healthcare Executive.
https://www.chiefhealthcareexecutive.com/view/telehealth-diagnosis-shows-high-level-of-accuracy-study-finds
Supply Chain.
(2022, Mar 14). Flying pharmacy: why medical drones will take off in
2022..
https://www.here.com/learn/blog/medical-drones
UniEnergy
Technologies. (n.d). How Long Does A Drone Battery Last? (Tips To
Increase) .
https://www.uetechnologies.com/drones-battery-life/
Thank you for this revision, Michelle.
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