At the just concluded American Academy of Pediatrics 2019 National Conference & Exhibition, research was presented demonstrating that within busy Brooklyn, New York, drones can arrive at the site of an emergency consistently faster than a conventional ambulance.
This was accomplished by performing flights using an aerial drone that mimicked the same point-to-point journeys that ambulances from one hospital previously made. The data about the ambulance trips were gathered from a public database, while the flights were performed within a period of a few weeks, including during rush hours. A commercial drone was used for the project and the go-ahead was given by the Federal Aviation Administration and New York City bureaucrats.
It is believed that such drones will be able to deliver defibrillators, NARCAN, and other anti-overdose medications, as well as Epi-pens. Moreover, an onboard smartphone can be used to communicate with emergency physicians who can guide bystanders to deliver life saving therapy before a conventional ambulance arrives.