It’s a fine Sunday morning. The city is just rising up slowly, in the leisure of the weekend. Just then, you hear a siren blazing. From your window you notice an ambulance crossing swiftly, making a halt close by. It’s your beloved neighbour, Mr Gupta – he has suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.
Noticing the eerie silence at their door and the confusion of responders, you make a quick way to their home. After reaching there you realise that Mr Gupta was critical and required an ambulance with intensive care facilities to be transported safely to the hospital. However, due to a lack of knowledge about the types of ambulances, Mrs Gupta had called for an ambulance with basic equipment & oxygen facility. Thankfully a properly equipped ambulance could be called just in time to save Mr Gupta’s life.
Unfortunately, the story that you just read is a reality in many cases. The only difference is that in numerous such situations, patients suffer dire consequences due to the wrong type of ambulance being called.
A clear lesson that we can learn from these unfortunate cases is that the information about the types of ambulances & their uses can save your or your loved ones’ life someday.
TYPES OF AMBULANCE
BASIC LIFE SUPPORT
This type of ambulance is equipped to provide only basic care like Oxygen and basic medical facilities.
When to call?
1. The patient needs an ambulance to be transported from home to places of treatment, inter-hospitals, outstation transfer to the hospital & hospital discharge.
2. The patient is not bedridden, without the need to monitor cardiac parameters & is in a stable condition.
3. Pre-planned, non-emergency transport to treatment facilities or hospitals with medical care assistance.
ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT
ALS ambulance is equipped with state-of-the-art life saving & emergency advanced medical facilities. Ambulances come with critical care facilities, professional paramedic care, EMT, ventilator support etc.
When to call?
1. The patient is critical and requires the above-mentioned facilities while moving to the hospital.
2. The patient requires cardiac monitoring facilities, ventilator support or an I.C.U on wheels sufficient to stabilise them until they reach the hospital.
AIR AMBULANCE
These are highly equipped & specially crafted on-air medical assistance, ensuring prompt, safe & comfortable emergency transfers.
When to call?
1. When patients need to be transported quickly, from remote areas to cities.
2. When patients need to be transported internationally.
If your patient is in a critical situation where time is crucial, Air ambulances can be the best option. However, they are expensive and are not widely available.
TRAIN AMBULANCE
Train ambulances carry hi-tech medical equipment backed by an experienced medical team of doctors & paramedics to ensure a safe & sound patient transfer via rail route.
When to call?
1. The patient is in severe or critical condition, and requires medical transportation & supervision with extra support or cardiac monitoring, from one station to the other.
2. These are also used for the bed to bed ICU facilities for serious patients.
Like air ambulances, train ambulances also transport critical patients quickly, bypassing traffic. However, a Train Ambulance is more economical compared to an air ambulance. Also, train ambulances are considered safer compared to air ambulances because, during transportation by train, hemodynamic changes do not occur.
HEARSE AMBULANCE
A hearse ambulance is used to transport dead bodies. It is equipped with facilities to preserve the dead body for up to 6 days.
1. Hearse ambulances can be used to transport the body to the funeral grounds.
2. They can also be used if one needs to transport the mortal remains across cities.
Choosing the right type of ambulance can be a matter of life and death in cases of emergencies. We hope this article equipped you with information to make the right choice in difficult situations.