[Unmanned aerial vehicles: usefulness for victim searches and triage in disasters].
Emergencias · 2016-01-01 · Observational study
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To analyze the influence of drones equipped with thermal cameras for finding victims and aiding triage during disasters. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We carried out a prospective, cross-sectional analysis and 6 experimental simulations, each with 25 victims to locate and triage. Nurses were randomized to a control group or a drone group. Drone-group nurses were given access to images from the thermal cameras 10 minutes before the exercise started. RESULTS: The mean (SD) distance the nurses searched in the control group (1091.11 [146.41] m) was significantly greater than the distance searched by nurses in the drone group (920 [ 71.93] m (P = .0031). The control group found a mean of 66.7% of the victims, a significantly smaller percentage than the drone group's mean of 92% (P = .0001). Triage quality (undertriage and overtriage) was similar in the 2 groups as shown by maneuvers undertaken to open airways and control bleeding. CONCLUSION: Drones with thermal cameras were useful in searching for victims of simulated disasters in this study, although they had no impact on the quality of the nurses' triage.