| dc.description.abstract | Introduction: Applications of vessels in emergency medical systems: Method: Discussion: Conclusion: Emergency medical systems in island and coastal regions face challenges
such as supply and staffing shortages and a dispersion of resources and people, which
negatively affect the timely and efficient delivery of emergency medical services. This thesis
explores the opportunities and challenges of using autonomous vessels in these systems to
start a discussion, as current research in this area is very limited.
Currently, emergency vessels are
primarily used to transfer patients to hospitals, doctors to emergency sites as well as
equipment between islands. Floating hospitals ships generally combine these functions by
enable comprehensive consultation, diagnosis, and treatment at the emergency sites.
Additionally, rescue and search operations can also be counted among the tasks of
emergency medical systems if one considers an extended range of tasks for these systems.
The location of hub facilities, where autonomous vessels are stationed when not in
operation, is one of the first decisions to be made when integrating those vessels into current
emergency systems. Therefore, the model for solving the maximal covering location
problem is applied and adjusted to cover a wider range of application of vessels in
emergency medical systems. Simulations are conducted to identify opportunities to improve
system performance when setting hub facilities for autonomous vessels.
Hub facilities for autonomous vessels can be located at a greater number of
locations, leading to better population coverage in some cases. Furthermore, the complexity
of response routes can be decreased by the ability of autonomous vessels to transform
current applications of vessels in emergency medical systems. Despite several other
opportunities to reduce response times and use resources more efficiently, there are also
challenges associated with the use of autonomous vessels. Some main challenges are to
successfully integrate the new vessels into the existing system and to ensure their use by the
population. Additionally, the costs of autonomous vessels are likely to exceed those of
conventional vessels requiring in-depth cost-benefit considerations.
Autonomous vessels have a great potential to enhance the performance of
emergency medical systems in island and coastal regions. Most of the challenges can be
mitigated by carefully planning their operations and introduction of the vessels into the
existing system. However, in the context of scarce funding, higher costs compared to
conventional vessels are likely to be the most significant challenge for the introduction of
autonomous vessels. | en_US |
