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Article
The application of drones in healthcare and health-related services in north america: A scoping review
Drones
  • Bradley Hiebert, The University of Western Ontario
  • Elysée Nouvet, The University of Western Ontario
  • Vyshnave Jeyabalan, The University of Western Ontario
  • Lorie Donelle, The University of Western Ontario
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2020
URL with Digital Object Identifier
10.3390/drones4030030
Abstract

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Using drone aircraft to deliver healthcare and other health-related services is a relatively new application of this technology in North America. For health service providers, drones represent a feasible means to increase their efficiency and ability to provide services to individuals, especially those in difficult to reach locations. This paper presents the results of a scoping review of the research literature to determine how drones are used for healthcare and health-related services in North America, and how such applications account for human operating and machine design factors. Data were collected from PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore using a block search protocol that combined 13 synonyms for “drone” and eight broad terms capturing healthcare and health-related services. Four-thousand-six-hundred-and-sixty-five documents were retrieved, and following a title, abstract, and full-text screening procedure completed by all authors, 29 documents were retained for analysis through an inductive coding process. Overall, findings indicate that drones may represent a financially feasible means to promote healthcare and health-related service accessibility for those in difficult-to-reach areas; however, further work is required to fully understand the costs to healthcare organizations and the communities they serve.

Notes

Hiebert B, Nouvet E, Jeyabalan V, Donelle L. The Application of Drones in Healthcare and Health-Related Services in North America: A Scoping Review. Drones. 2020; 4(3):30. https://doi.org/10.3390/drones4030030

Citation Information
Bradley Hiebert, Elysée Nouvet, Vyshnave Jeyabalan and Lorie Donelle. "The application of drones in healthcare and health-related services in north america: A scoping review" Drones Vol. 4 Iss. 3 (2020) p. 1 - 17
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/elysee-nouvet/6/