Untrained bystanders can administer drone-delivered naloxone, potentially saving lives of opioid overdose victims
An onlooker – even one without prior training – can successfully administer naloxone to an overdose victim within about a minute of a drone delivering the lifesaving opioid reversal agent. That’s the key finding of my team’s newly published study. Naloxone is also known by the name brand Narcan. The study involved 17 participants responding to a simulated overdose . Each simulation included an un trained participant who portrayed a bystander , a box of naloxone deliver ed by drone , a mannequin as the overdose victim , and a panicked observer. The latter added a sense of urgency by continually shouting at the bystander throughout the simulation. Via a video playing on a screen carried by the drone, the bystander received instructions on how to use the naloxone, which is administered as a nasal spray. We timed each participant on how long it took them to correctly give the medication during this crisis moment. Our trial revealed that the average time for someon...