Abstract
Background
Currently, ≤5% of bystanders witnessing an opioid overdose (OD) in the US administer
antidote to the victim. A possible model to mitigate this crisis would be a system
that enables 9-1-1 dispatchers to both rapidly deliver naloxone by drone to bystanders
at a suspected opioid OD and direct them to administer it while awaiting EMS arrival.
Methods
A simulated 9-1-1 dispatcher directed thirty subjects via 2-way radio to retrieve
naloxone nasal spray from atop a drone located outside the simulation building and
then administer it using scripted instructions. The primary outcome measure was time
from first contact with the dispatcher to administration of the medication.
Results
All subjects administered the medication successfully. The mean time interval from
9 -1-1 contact until antidote administration was 122 [95%CI 109–134] sec. There was a significant reduction in time interval if subjects had prior medical
training (p = 0.045) or had prior experience with use of a nasal spray device (p = 0.030). Five subjects had difficulty using the nasal spray and four subjects had
minor physical impairments, but these barriers did not result in a significant difference
in time to administration (p = 0.467, p = 0.30). A significant number of subjects (29/30 [97%], p = 0.044) indicated that they felt confident they could administer intranasal naloxone
to an opioid OD victim after participating in the simulation.
Conclusions
Our results suggest that bystanders can carry out 9-1-1 dispatcher instructions to
fetch drone-delivered naloxone and potentially decrease the time interval to intranasal
administration which supports further development and testing of a such a system.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: June 02, 2020
Accepted:
May 26,
2020
Received in revised form:
May 24,
2020
Received:
April 17,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
