Drones delivering Naloxone with Caroline Copeland, Patrick Courtney and Paul Royall

In this episode, Rob Calder talks to Drs Caroline Copeland, Patrick Courtney and Paul Royall about their recent article assessing the time it would take for drones to deliver naloxone to people who are overdosing on opioids. The study team used NPSAD (National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths) data to map out overdoses in Teeside over recent years and then to predict how long it would have taken a drone to make the journey and deliver naloxone to a bystander who would then be able to administer it. They then compared this time with the time it takes ambulances to attend the scene. Along the way they discuss take off stations, weather, traffic congestion, no-fly zones and the importance of considering whether a drone will be destroyed along the way."The initial design we came up with was a sort of cargo transport box on top of the drone, whereby the drone lands and then the bystander can remove the naloxone home kit or naloxone nasal spray from the top of that transport holder. At that point we then follow the guidance and recommendations of the at home naloxone or nasal spray." - Paul RoyallOriginal article: An evaluation of naloxone transit for opioid overdose using drones: A case study using real-world coroner data. By Caroline Copeland and colleagues. Published in Addiction (2023) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.