Drone technology in medical supply chain management: A survey on enabling technologies, frameworks, and applications

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones, have become known as a disruptive technology that can potentially enhance efficiency and accessibility in the medical supply chain by allowing the timely delivery of medical supplies such as vaccines, blood, organs and emergency drugs in remote and disaster-prone regions. This study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of existing international research on the use of drones in medical supply chains, with a sample of 1,209 articles retrieved from the Dimensions.ai database for 2015-2026. VOSviewer was used to process the bibliographic information to determine publication growth and trends, leading authors and journals, country contributions and collaboration patterns, while a thematic analysis was conducted to identify the major and emerging research themes. The findings indicate that the past few years have witnessed a significant increase in the number of publications, which signifies increased interest in UAVs in healthcare supply chains, and that the most important research themes are emergency medical transportation, vaccine delivery, last-mile delivery of health care and drone system efficiency. In addition, a country-by-country examination reveals that the United States is at the forefront. Overall, the study provides information about recent trends and future perspectives on capitalizing on drone technology in medical supply chains.