Air
ambulance is a comprehensive term denoting the use of transportation methods by
air. It can involve the use of helicopter or aero planes to shift and move
critical patients from the scene of accident to either a proper hospital or a
make shift one where emergency medical services are conducted. It is the
responsibility of the then medical officer to determine whether the patient is as
critical as such as to require emergency air services because at the end of the
day the air services are costly. While uplifting the patients the weather
conditions and the safety of the service team should also be taken into
account. An air ambulance has to be outfitted specially with all the possible
equipment and medicines so as to serve the patients. Air
ambulance can be of two types, one in which medical staff is present to give
proper assistance during the journey and other in which only patients are shifted
from one place to another without proper medical assistance. The mortality rate
of the critically injured patient reduces at once from sixty percent to just
ten percent at a go if they are air lifted.
Even
during the World War 1 air transport was used to lift and shift the important
patients but air transport facilities expanded at a higher level during the
Vietnam War. Today the use of Emergency Air Ambulance has advanced dramatically as people have become more
conscious and forward thinking. The services of air ambulance have become quite
popular under strenuous conditions because of:
- · They have proved to be very reliable in difficult situations.
- · They are dependable and quiet.
- · They have proved to be very comfortable for the patients.
- · They save a lot of time.
The
air ambulance aircrafts have much equipment to handle emergency situation and
some of them are:
- · A stretcher on board
- · Blankets, linens and pillows and that too cleaned at regular intervals
- · Medicine box
- · Cuffs for measuring the blood pressure of patients
- · Pulse oximeter
- · Adequate supply of oxygen
- · Cardiac monitors
Besides
military civilians have also set up air medical servicesand some of the most
famous ones are:
- · Royal Flying Doctor Services established in the year 1928 in the outback of Australia.
- · First civil air ambulance in Africa in the year 1934 by Marie Marvingt.
- · Highlands and Islands Medical Services in the year 1936 for the remote corners of Scotland.
- · Schaefer ambulance services in the year 1947 in Los Angeles by J Walter Schaefer