Drone Delivered Defibrillators (The 3D Project).

NCT06334718 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: 318417NIHR204382
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 25
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this observational study is to explore the optimisation and integration of a drone-delivered Automated External Defibrillator (AED) system into the pre-hospital response to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The study is being conducted by the University of Warwick and Welsh Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust (both in the UK) There are two separate packages of work. In work package 1 the investigators will interview people who have been involved in emergency (999) calls for cardiac arrest, asking them about their experiences with the call-handler and how they feel they might have responded if they had received an AED that had been delivered by a flying drone. In work package 2 the investigators will conduct simulated cardiac arrests. The participants in the study will make an emergency (999) call to a trained call-handler and, once the cardiac arrest is identified during the call, a drone will be activated from a distant location and fly up to 2km to the test site and deliver an AED. The investigators will record how long it takes to retrieve and attach the AED, and ask the participants for their views about the interaction with the call-handler, AED and drone.

Conditions

Cardiac Arrest, Out-Of-Hospital

Keywords

Defibrillators; Unmanned Aerial Devices; Heart Arrest; Cardiac Arrest, Out-of-Hospital

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Time away from patient's side (SIMULATION)

  Time from leaving patient to retrieve drone-delivered AED to returning to patient's side with AED

  During simulation procedure (cardiac arrest scenario)

• Barriers and facilitators to drone-delivered AED use (INTERVIEW)

  Findings from interview, after analysis using theoretically-informed frameworks

  Following analysis and synthesis of all interviews (24 planned), April 2024 to October 2024

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Interventions to overcome barriers to drone delivered AED use (INTERVIEW)

  Following analysis and synthesis of all interviews (24 planned); April 2024 to October 2024

• Hands off CPR time (SIMULATION)

  During simulation procedure (cardiac arrest scenario)

• Total time from start of 999 call to AED application and first shock (SIMULATION)

  During simulation procedure (cardiac arrest scenario)

• Total drone flight time (SIMULATION)

  During simulation procedure (cardiac arrest scenario)

• Time from drone arrival to safe to approach (SIMULATION)

  During simulation procedure (cardiac arrest scenario)

Interventions

Interviews and simulation BEHAVIORAL

Work package 1: interview study Work package 2: simulated cardiac arrest study with AED delivered by drone following a simulated emergency (999) call.

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Healthy volunteers. For interviews the investigators will recruit from people who meet the eligibility criteria and who have previously agreed to have their contact details held by Welsh Ambulance Service. For the simulation study the investigators will recruit members of the public from local community groups near to the site of the simulation.

You may qualify if:

• have mental capacity to make decisions about study participation.
• have provided bystander interventions (CPR +/- use of an AED) during an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
• are able to conduct interviews in English.
• are willing to have an audio recording made of the interview.

You may not qualify if:

• Those who have not previously provided any bystander intervention during an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
• (in the judgement of the interviewer, are not able to understand or communicate effectively in English.)
• Those who do not agree to be audio recorded
• aged 18 years of age or older
• have mental capacity to make decisions about study participation.
• believe themselves to have the physical and mental capability to perform CPR and use an AED in an outdoor environment.
• believe themselves able to use a mobile phone to communicate with a 999 call-handler.
• those who are or who believe themselves to be pregnant
• those that are unable to complete the simulation because of physical or psychological distress.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Warwick: lead
• Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Warwick

Coventry, United Kingdom

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest; Heart Arrest

Interventions

Interviews as Topic

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Heart Diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Data Collection; Epidemiologic Methods; Investigative Techniques; Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms; Quality of Health Care; Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation; Public Health; Environment and Public Health

Study Officials

• Christopher M Smith, MBChB, PhD

  University of Warwick

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE ONLY
• Time Perspective: CROSS SECTIONAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 18, 2024
• First Posted: March 28, 2024
• Study Start: March 29, 2024
• Primary Completion: October 31, 2024
• Study Completion: April 30, 2025
• Last Updated: May 16, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-05

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL
• Time Frame: Data will be available from time of open-access peer-reviewed publication - one each planned for interview and for simulation study. Protocol available from time of project registration
• Access Criteria: No restrictions

Locations

GB (1)