Modern Ambulance Design

Cross Posted: How We Get Around; 1966 to 1986 History; International History
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Modern Ambulance Design

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Modern Vehicles

Israeli EMS 's contemporary civilian armored Mobile Intensive Care Unit. Used for response to ongoing terrorist incidents, it is based off a super-duty Ford E-450 chassis.

Modern ambulances are now often custom built (see Design and construction below), and as well as the specialist medical equipment now built in to the ambulances, industry wide improvements in vehicle design have had an impact, including improvements in audible and visual warning equipment to help protect crews in vulnerable situations (such as at a Road Traffic Collision), and general improvements such as ABS , which are particularly valuable for ambulances, due to the speeds reached and the weight carried. There have also been improvements to help safeguard the health and welfare of ambulance crews, such as the addition of patient tail lifts , ramps and winches, to cut down on the amount of manual handling a crew must perform.

Ambulance design is still evolving, largely due to the growing skills and role of Paramedics and other ambulance crew, which require specialist equipment. Other factors driving improvement include the need to help protect ambulance crews from common accidents, such as traffic collisions and rarer, but potentially catastrophic incidents such as terrorist activities.

Design and construction

Ambulance interiors are often cramped, as seen in this Brazilian ambulance

Successful ambulance design must take in to account the local conditions and available infrastructure. Maintained roads are necessary for the familiar road going ambulances to arrive on scene and then transport the patient to a hospital, though in rugged areas four-wheel drive or all-terrain vehicles can make up for a paucity of good roads. Appropriate fuel must be readily available and service facilities are necessary to maintain the vehicle .

Methods of summoning (e.g. telephone ) and dispatching ambulances usually rely on electronic equipment, which itself often relies on an intact power grid . Similarly, modern ambulances are equipped with two-way radios or cellular telephones to enable them to contact hospitals, either to notify the appropriate hospital of the ambulance's pending arrival, or, in cases where physicians do not form part of the ambulance's crew, to confer with a physician for medical oversight.

Ambulances often have two manufacturers. The first is frequently a manufacturer of light trucks (or previously, cars ) such as Mercedes-Benz or Ford . The second manufacturer purchases the vehicle (which is sometimes purchased incomplete, having no body or interior behind the driver's seat) and turns it into an ambulance by adding bodywork, emergency vehicle equipment , and interior fittings. This is done by one of two methods - either coachbuilding , where the modifications are started from scratch and built on to the vehicle, or using a modular system, where a pre-built 'box' is put on to the empty chassis of the ambulance, and then finished off.

Modern ambulances are typically powered by internal combustion engines, which can be powered by any conventional fuel, including diesel , gasoline or liquefied petroleum gas ,^[30][31] depending on the preference of the operator and the availability of different options. Colder regions often use gasoline powered engines, as diesels can be difficult to start when they are cold. Warmer regions may favour diesel engines, as they are thought to be more efficient and more durable. Diesel power is sometimes chosen due to safety concerns, after a series of fires involving gasoline powered ambulances during the 1980s. These fires were ultimately attributed in part to gasoline's higher volatility in comparison to diesel fuel.^[32] The type of engine may be determined by the manufacturer: Ford ^{[33]
[34]
[35]} will only sell vehicles for ambulance conversion if they are diesel powered.