Are drones a fast way to deliver emergency defibrillators?

A drone hovers at a viewpoint overlooking the Space Needle and skyline of tech hub Seattle, Washington, U.S. February 11, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

Drones may be able to rush emergency defibrillators to patients in cardiac arrest faster than traditional emergency medical services (EMS), potentially improving survival odds, a small Swedish experiment suggests. 

Researchers ran 18 simulations comparing how long it took a drone and traditional EMS to reach various locations within a 10-kilometre (6.2 mile) radius of a fire station north of Stockholm. The drone consistently beat typical EMS response times, by almost 17 minutes in half of the cases.