Ambulances now are a normal phenomenon of our everyday life, whenever there is an emergency we call for an ambulance but has the scenario always been like this? Were ambulances always there as a life savior? No. Ambulance services like everything else have their booming era.
Ambulances have been around for a long long time and their history starts from ancient times. In 1487, ambulances were used as an emergency transport by the Spanish forces during the siege of Malanga, this was the first record of ambulances being used as an emergency transport service.
The Spanish armies, back at that time, were very well treated, even so, many soldiers had died on the battlefield because they were only taken out of the battlefield and to the hospital after the battle had ended. Scenarios like these had distressed a man named Dominique Jean Larrey.
Dominique Jean Larrey was present during the battle between the French and Prussians, his concern was that the wounded soldiers were not being carried out by numerous ambulances, as ambulance services were not four-wheeled from the beginning. Before 1766, ambulances used to be horse littered, which could not give support to that many wounded soldiers, so, many died due to lack of service.
Hence, a major change in the usage of ambulances in battles came during 1766 – 1842 and this change was made by that man Dominique Jean Larrey. He decided to build a new type of ambulance system, a kind that was not run on a horse litter.
He created ambulances which were two or four-wheeled wagons drawn by horses, these ambulance services now could rescue injured or fallen soldiers from an active battlefield. Dominique Jean Larrey had later become Napoleon Bonaparte’s chief physician.
There was an advancement to Larrey’s work during the American civil war. Joseph Barnes and Jonathan Letterman were two union military physicians, who created a prehospital care system for soldiers, this ensured new methods and techniques of transportation.
These ambulances were however two-wheeled and were not very effective for carrying two or three wounded soldiers, therefore it was also replaced by another kind of ambulance which was four-wheeled and was called the “Rucker” ambulance, this was named after Major General Rucker. The Rucker ambulance was then very common to be seen on battlefields carrying wounded soldiers to proper treatment and care.
Automobile ambulances were introduced in the 19th century but before that, all the ambulances were horse-drawn wagons, some large and some small, but all of those ambulances were always prepared to go and save lives. The first-ever hospital-based ambulance service was based out of Commercial Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio.
These ambulance services were created to bring the patients to the hospitals faster and in more comfort, this service was started in 1869 by Edward Dalton, a former surgeon in the Union army. These ambulance services were equipped with splints, a stomach pump, bandy, and morphine, reflecting contemporary medicines.
Then in the later years, these ambulances also had hospital house staff or crew on board, after which the hospital had hired two full-time ambulance surgeons, who would give their full time to these patients, and by 1869, the staffing of the ambulance with residence training was completely established.
These ambulances went through small modifications till the early 20th century. Then in the early 20th-century automobile ambulances were introduced and they were being used along with the horse-drawn ambulances. The earlier automobile ambulances were used to run on steam, gasoline, and electricity. The first mass production of automobile ambulances was by James Cunningham in the United States, in 1909.
During the first World War, the horse-drawn ambulances were phased out because the automobile battlefield ambulances were such a success. Even the idea of air ambulances was during the first World War, the first custom-built air ambulance was made in the late 1920s. But back in those days, those were just for fast transportation, unlike the modern times.
The modern time’s ambulances services are far evolved and are equipped with a lot more than they used to. Now ambulances are not only for transportation but also to make sure that the patient is getting immediate care, that the patient gets the proper treatment they need before reaching the experts.
Now ambulance services come with far more variety than they used to, such as ICU ambulances, NICU ambulances, AC Ambulance or Non AC ambulances, Freezing ambulances, ALS (Advanced Life Support) ambulances, and also Air ambulances, these air ambulances come in varieties as well now, one is Turboprop rescue planes, and the other one is jet aircraft.
Helicopters fall under the turboprop rescue planes, they are to travel a short distance but the jet aircraft are for a further distance to travel. Ambulance services now are like prehospital care.
The Services of an Ambulance Service Providing Company.
The service of an ambulance service providing company is to provide ambulances, that is their basic job, but the most important part of it is to make sure that the patient is getting exactly what is necessary for their condition, for instance,
if a patient is suffering from a life threatening condition and need immediate medical attention, they will need an ICU ambulance because a regular ambulance, which are used for only transportation will not be able to provide that type of intensive care.
They have to ensure that the crew on board or the medical technicians on board are properly trained and experienced in such a medical crisis. They must make sure that the ambulances and their medical crew that they are providing are handling the patient with proper care and responsibility.
These companies also need to be very efficient at what they do, they have to give the customers proper information about everything within a limited amount of time, such as the information about the types of ambulance services they provide and the prices of each of them.
The Inside of An Ambulance.
Ambulances look like a normal microbus from the outside but inside an ambulance, the picture is very different. An ambulance has two compartments, one at the back for the patient and the attendant and the other is in front, for the ambulance driver, ambulances have windows but are almost always tainted for the patient’s privacy.
Inside an ambulance there are some things which are mandatory to keep in an ambulance, such as gloves, pulse oximeter, stethoscope, oxygen cylinder, oxygen mask, oxygen key, ECG monitor, blood pressure cuffs, spinal board, defibrillator, sedatives, bandages and some other larger or smaller equipment depending on the patient’s condition and the ambulance service one needs, for instance an NICU ambulance service will have different equipment than an ICU ambulance service.
These equipment are there to make sure that the patient’s condition is stable until we reach the hospital. Ambulances also have a bed or a wheeled stretcher for the patient, these beds have wheels so that the patient does not go through any inconvenience while shifting from the ambulance to the hospital. Ambulances come with a medical crew as well, who are fully trained in dealing with critical to normal patients.
Common Mistakes We Do During An Emergency.
It is very easy to panic during an emergency and it is the first mistake that we make.
We panic because it is often our loved ones who are going through a critical condition and at that moment of emergency we do not completely understand what to do, how to face the situation or what has actually happened, we become totally blank.
We do not analyze the situation for us to understand what step to take next. This is when we make the next mistakes, we do not give the right information, we miss out details which are important, we look for the best hospital even if it is miles away.
Whereas the key here is to be calm during a time like this so that we can make better decisions for the patient, we need to tell the ambulance service exactly what is happening, like the patient’s physical conditions and their symptoms or how critical they are, so that the ambulance company can suggest or refer exactly what to do.
We also must give them the proper details and the exact address so that they can reach the patient on time, because every minute is precious for the patient, and the most important is to make sure that we choose a hospital that is in a close proximity, because again every minute is precious, we can always switch to our preferred hospital after the patient’s condition is stable.
We often lose people because of our indecisions, because we take too much time deciding what to do, let’s not do that anymore. We need to be very calm during such emergencies, so that we can make quick and proper decisions to save a life.
Information that You Should Provide to Get Faster and Efficient Ambulance Service.
When we call for an ambulance service we need to provide them with some information. Firstly, we need to let them know about the condition of the patient, like how critical they are, what they are suffering from and if we cannot do that, at least we should let them know the symptoms of the patient, so that they can send proper help.
Secondly, we need to let them know our budget and affordability. Thirdly, we need to give them our correct details or information, this will lower the inconvenience for both the parties. Lastly, we need to tell them exactly where the patient is, or the address, so that they can take the patient to the hospital as soon as possible.
All this information will help the ambulance service company understand the situation and send help faster and more efficiently.
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Why Do People Choose Private Ambulance Service rather than Gov Ambulance Services
We all know that in every country everything has two sectors, one private and the other under the government or public. Ambulance services are no different, they also fall under private or government services, but why do people choose private ambulance service rather than government ambulance service?
This is because the demand for government ambulances are far more than the private ones, so they are often not available when needed, or even if they are, they are not always on time, whereas the private ambulance service companies promise to be at your door within 30 minutes.
The factor that dealing with private companies is way easier than dealing with the government ones, plays a big part in it. In private ambulance services the customer only has to call once and everything is taken care of but in government services they have so much rush that they cannot give their full attention and details are missed, which is an inconvenience for the customer or the patient.
As the government ambulance services are very cheap, it is quite obvious that almost everyone can afford it, hence they are less available and everyone wants a fast ambulance service at a time of crisis or emergency.
So people often go for private ambulance services because even if they cost more, they are more efficient, they promise their service within 30 minutes, they have better sanitation, and they even provide a variety of ambulances depending on the patient’s condition.
Why Should We Use Ambulance Service rather than Using Private Cars?
In an emergency situation, where someone’s health is deteriorating or when there has been an accident, we make very impulsive decisions, such as we take the patient to the hospital using a private car rather than calling an ambulance service, which may cost the person their life.
Even though in such situations taking our own car may look like the best thing to do because we are saving time, but there are a number of factors that we avoid, for instance, if a patient was in an accident and they have a hemorrhage our rough driving may cause them further damage, the patient could be internally bleeding and we would not know.
Also we could cause another accident by driving too fast to reach the hospital, but ambulance services have professional drivers, who deal with these situations daily and can stay calm.
Calling for an ambulance in these cases is always a wise decision, because the patient will constantly be under the supervision of the trained medical crew and nurses, an ambulance is equipped with everything that is needed to keep a patient stable but our cars do not, if anything goes wrong the medical crew can take the necessary steps to stabilize the patient.
Also we have to take the traffic into account, no one steps aside for a regular car but an ambulance has that advantage, people give way for an ambulance to pass. We should always call for an ambulance in emergencies.
Quality Of Bangladeshi Ambulance Services vs International Ambulance Service
Bangladesh is still a developing country but we have come a long way from where we had begun. Our country is bettering itself every day, and even though we have not yet reached a quality that the developed countries have, we still try to provide the best.
Bangladeshi ambulance services are nothing less than an international ambulance service, we provide everything that a patient may need during the travel, we make sure that the patient’s condition is stable at all times, this is the basic job of an ambulance.
International ambulances, of course, have everything in better quality, they are far fancier and they also have more advanced equipment but Bangladeshi ambulances serve their purpose just fine, they are also equipped with everything required to save a life. Bangladeshi ambulances are actually not that far behind then an international ambulance.
