Illustrative set of standardised indicators for a drone-supported healthcare system
| Category | Indicator | Description | Data sources |
| Health system performance | Health facilities and patients reached | No and types of health facilities covered, quantitative estimate of served population (vs catchment population) | HIS, LIS |
| Health outcomes | Measurement of standard WHO and national disease indicators of interest (considering an appropriate measurement period for each health outcome) | HIS, LIS | |
| Supply chain | Turn-around times | No of minutes from the time the operator begins to prepare the drone for take-off, to the time of the flight, to the time the payload is received, battery changed, payload reloaded and the flight returns | HIS, LIS, LMIS |
| No of samples | No of specimens received (eg, per 1000 population) | HIS, LIS | |
| Stock-outs | No of days per month with stock-outs by medical commodity per health facility | HIS, LIS, LMIS, stock records | |
| Commodity/sample types | Types of medical commodities and biomedical samples transported, via emergency delivery or regular supply | HIS, LIS, LMIS, drone information system (DIS)* | |
| Quantity, weight, volume/size | Quantity, weight, volume/size of medical commodities and biomedical samples transported | HIS, LIS, LMIS | |
| Quality | Collection, storage and transportation of samples and medical commodities according to WHO guidelines and specific manufacturer guidelines† | HIS, LIS, WHO guidelines, national guidelines, manufacturer guidelines | |
| No of successful deliveries made | No of successful on-time deliveries made within the service level agreement | HIS, LIS, LMIS, DIS | |
| Payload damage or loss | Commodity or biomedical sample damage or loss | LIS, LMIS, DIS | |
| Costs | Start-up, operational and maintenance cost | Technology acquisition, training activities, operational costs, technical maintenance, flight permits, human resources, insurance | Purchase receipts, bills, pay checks, interviews, DIS |
| Delivery cost | Cost per flight and per commodity/sample type, per distance, per volume, per time | DIS, interviews | |
| Other health system costs | Time that healthcare worker spends with patients and invests in interacting with drone system | HIS, interviews | |
| Technical performance | Flight quantity | No of flights completed for each destination, by type of flight (one-way or two-way transport), by payload vs empty flights | DIS |
| Flight quality | Flight durations, distance ranges, flight endurance‡, altitudes, routes/waypoint tracks, flight operational time (including preparation, launch, landing and post-flight tasks) average and maximum airspeeds and groundspeeds, environmental conditions | DIS | |
| Failures or flights missed | Flights affected by external causes (eg, climate, technical, operator error) and duration of aircraft on ground | DIS | |
| Temperature | Payload or product temperature during flight, reported as average and range per distance flown | DIS | |
| Acceleration, vibration | Cargo compartment acceleration and vibrations during flight | DIS | |
| Acceptance | Government | Qualitative data on risk and benefit perceptions, including health systems performance, economic factors, regulatory issues, policies, health systems integration, compromised safety factors or other concerns Quantitative data estimate on costs and willingness to pay | Interviews with governmental stakeholders/employees at all levels |
| Public, communities | Qualitative data on awareness, risk and benefit perceptions, attitudes, safety, complaints, traditional, cultural, religious and ethical considerations, livelihood considerations, etc | Interviews, focus group discussions |
*DIS, drone information system: records of all drone-related telemetry and flight-log data (including aircraft sensor and navigational data, power data, temperatures, altitude, barometric pressure, gyroscope, accelerometer, connectivity parameters, GPS signals), operator statements (ie, samples/commodities transported), pre-flight and post-flight checks, environmental conditions and incidences (including causes, aircraft downtime, damage types, repairs).
†The quality of samples/commodities transported should (1) fulfil the requirements put forward in guidelines and (2) not be of inferior quality as when transported by traditional means (using 0=inferior quality; 1=equal or superior quality).
‡Flight endurance describes the maximum duration an aircraft can fly on one battery charge.
HIS, health information system; LIS, laboratory information system; LMIS, logistics management information system.