With a significant rise in the number of emergency cases, the need of the hour is to transport the patients to the nearest hospital as soon as possible. Ambulance services provide an ambulance that is medically equipped and transports patients to care centers, such as hospitals. In certain cases the patient is given out-of-hospital medical treatment. Emergency services hire ambulances to respond to medical emergencies. In general they are equipped with flashing warning lights and sirens for this purpose.
They can quickly transport paramedics and other first responders to the scene, hold emergency medical equipment and transfer patients to hospital or other final treatment. Most ambulances use a van or pick-up truck based design. Others take the form of motorcycles, cars, buses, boats and planes.
What are ambulance services?
Ambulance services are the emergency response for critically injured or sick patients that also ensure that healthcare workers provide appropriate attention. Outpatient programs contribute to prompt medical care for victims of injuries or patients with chronic illnesses. Ambulance services play a significant role in the health care sector.
The ambulance services industry comprises private and public providers offering air or surface transport services to seriously ill patients, along with primary medical care. These vehicles are equipped with healthcare practitioners operating life-saving devices. For many countries, private ambulance services have emerged to provide ambulance services, particularly in rural areas that lack the necessary funds to provide free ambulance services and also due to state monetary issues.
Types of ambulance services transport:
Ground Ambulance Services
Ground transportation leads the segment because it is the most reliable and safe way to treat patients in an emergency. Its flexibility and easy availability are also expected to fuel segment growth as compared with other transport systems. Ground ambulance includes trucks for van or pick-up, car/SUV, motorcycle, bicycle, all-terrain, golf cart, and bus.
Water Ambulance Services
Ambulance boats are boats that provide emergency medical assistance and facilities to remote areas surrounded by a bodies of water. These ambulance boats are very close to the conventional ambulances and are fitted with all the necessary gadgets including ventilators, surgical equipment, a paramedics team and other necessary equipment for providing assistance to the victims. Many lifeguard vessels or lifeboats can also be used as ambulances for transporting victims or casualties in emergencies.
Air Ambulance Services
Air ambulance services is a broad concept that includes the use of air or helicopter transport to carry patients to and from healthcare facilities and accident scenes. During aeromedical evacuation or rescue operations onboard helicopter and propeller aircraft or jet aircraft, personnel provide extensive prehospital and emergency and critical care to all types of patients.
The use of air transport to provide medical evacuation on the battlefield dates back to World War I but its role was significantly expanded during the wars in Korea and Vietnam. Aircraft also began to be used by the civil emergency medical services. In particular for major emergency incidents, helicopters may carry medical care to the scene and transfer patients to medical hospitals. Fixed-wing aircraft are used for long distance transportation.
Recent trends in ambulance services industry
Advanced life support
Advanced Life Support (ALS) is a series of life-saving procedures and skills that expand Basic Life Support to further assist circulation and include an open airway and adequate ventilation (breathing). ALSs key algorithm, which is invoked when actual cardiac arrest is identified, depends on monitoring of the heart’s electrical activity on a heart monitor.
Defibrillation is applied, and medication is provided, depending on the form of cardiac arrhythmia. Oxygen is given, and endotracheal intubation may be tried to protect the lungs. The treatments effect on heart rhythm, as well as the existence of cardiac output, is periodically assessed.
Air ambulance demand rising amid the coronavirus outbreak
The outbreak of an infectious lung disease triggered by the Coronavirus has raised alarm worldwide. The virus can be transmitted between humans by contact with bodily fluids (e.g. by coughing and sneezing). Therefore, the disease is extremely contagious. A patient with suspected or confirmed coronavirus is not permitted to travel on a scheduled flight because of the high risk of contagion. For these situations, only an Air Ambulance is sufficient.
An experienced flight doctor on board an air ambulance takes care of the patient, using devices identical to the machines in a typical intensive care unit. Air ambulances are available from around the world. We can use not only the large commercial airports but smaller regional airfields as well. We can then transport the patient near the admitting hospital, so that only a short transport on the ground is necessary. An air ambulance will generally be made available on the same or the next day.
Internet of Things (IoT) in ambulance services
Emergency care is a critical field of medicine whose outcomes are determined by contextual knowledge time, quality and accuracy. Furthermore, the effectiveness of emergency treatment depends on the quality and accuracy of the information received during the emergency call and of the data obtained during the emergency transport.
Emergency doctors often lack the health records of patients and base the medical care on a set of information gathered including details given by the patient or his family. Consequently the provision of emergency treatment is more patient-centered than patient-centered knowledge. Wireless body area network and IoT (Internet of Technology) enable accurate data collection and are increasingly being used in medical applications.
Summing up
Modern ambulance today contains the most modern and advanced technologies. The medical equipment used today can easily provide hospital-like treatment to the patient when in transit and make their journey very comfortable and simple from one facility to the next. Governments have been under constant pressure to significantly improve emergency treatment, including the treatment received by ambulance services.
Free Valuable Insights: Global Ambulance Services Market to reach a market size of USD 31.8 billion by 2025
The government reports resulted in the development of guidelines in ambulance construction about the internal height of the area of patient care (to enable a caregiver to continue to care for the patient during transportation), and the equipment (and therefore weight) that an ambulance needed to carry, and many other factors.
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