Research Proposes New Emergency Drone Network in Denmark

Let’s face it – many people are ready for what the future will bring in terms of technology and innovation. When we think about the near future, we definitely imagine the skies being full of drones than they are today.

If we can envision the future beyond the low-flying pizza boxes carried by drones, then you are already thinking about something bigger – an innovation of a new kind. One of the innovations of this caliber is currently being prepared in Denmark.

New Paper Outlines Plan that Can Solve the Under and Over-Triage by Today’s Emergency Services

We all know that road accidents take a toll on many human lives nowadays. However, the main problem with which the emergency services can also save lives – lies in the proper assessment of the accidents by the emergency services.

According to a paper published at the University of Aalborg, Denmark – drones can work along with or as rescue emergency networks. Titled “Rescue Emergency Drone (RED) Network for Assessment of Traffic Accidents in Denmark” and written by Saqib Mehmood, Shakeel Ahmed, Anders Schmidt Kristensen, and Dewan Ahsan, the new paper is published under the category of Safety and Reliability – Safe Societies in a Changing World.

In it, a network of drones – described and referred to as Rescue Emergency Drones (RED) – would transmit live video to emergency services and will be mounted to sites where the accidents are higher. Established in Denmark, a network like these would have multiple RED docking stations at suitable places in the country, developing a robust network that provides high quality footage and therefore helps to access the scene of crashes faster than the standard existing procedures.

Esbjerg fire station response time to emergency calls.

Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Desperately Need Better Assessment

In the beginning, the paper mentions that a lot of wrong decisions taken by the Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD) and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) are mostly because of the inability to assess an accident site in a proper way.

One example for it is the ‘Unclear Problem’ of level B-E emergency – and a scene which involved 66 deaths in period between 2011 and 2012 in Denmark. Most of the problems in regards to assessment rose because of the inability to handle the emergencies which lead to degree of over and under triage.

As the paper reads:

“Drones have many applications in emergency services. For instance, drones can reach at the scene of the road accidents faster than conventional means of transportation. The aim of this study is to explore the potential benefit of a dronesystem to transmit live video footage covering the condition of the inflicted/patient that may improve the decision making of EMD. For application of drones in this regard, this study considered traffic accidents, because traffic accidents top the list of human casualties’ statistics of non-natural cause”.

Denmark is Relatively Safe for Commuters and Can Be the Perfect Testing Ground for this System

Nowadays, Denmark is a relatively safe country for commuters. However, just like many other countries, road accidents are taking their tool – and more than 211 people were killed, 1,796 suffered serious injuries and 1,432 suffered slight injuries just because of traffic accidents (Source: Denmark Statistics 2017).

Therefore, Denmark has the potential of becoming the perfect testing ground for the RED system – where emergency drones can comprehend and understand the situation and condition of the emergency. While first responders usually rush to the emergency sites with limited information, a drone network like the RED can properly monitor everything and give them reliable data that they can work with.

“If EMD and EMS can see and assess the severity of injuries of an inflicted person in traffic accident, it will facilitate a targeted response via live video footage.”

The Potential Benefits of Incorporation of RED into Emergency Services

For everyone that finds it difficult to understand the potential benefits of incorporating a system like RED, the paper also lists the numerous benefits through which the network can improve the decision making of emergency services.

As the paper notes, the benefits include:

• “Real time visual feed from the scene of crash will assist in better assessment of severity of the
• emergency by dispatcher.
• The sufficient of amount of resources will be saved by emergency services by overcoming problem of over and under-triage.
• A targeted and quick response will increase survival rate of inflicted persons.
• A targeted response will improve the quality of life by decreasing the severity of injuries of causalities and thereby saving them to live without physical impairments.
• Dispatcher would be able to better guide caller to handle emergency properly while the ambulance is on its way.
• Dispatcher can calm down the panicked caller.”

Real-Time Video: The Answer to Saving Lives and Improving the Emergency Decision Making

In the end, the paper concludes that the application of this model could save a lot of lives only by improving the decision making during each emergency across Denmark The real-time video can enable emergency services to take immediate action and dispatch a targeted response in order to treat the injured people.

Reference: Rescue Emergency Drone (RED) Network for Assessment of Traffic Accidents in Denmark | Mehmood, Saqib; Ahmed, Shakeel; Kristensen, Anders Schmidt; Ahsan, Dewan
Published in: Safety and Reliability – Safe Societies in a Changing World | http://vbn.aau.dk/files/284787204/Rescue_Emergency_Drone_RED_Network_for_Assessment_of_Traffic_Accidents_in_Denmark.pdf