Ambulance is a vehicle designed to transport sick or injured people. Most ambulances are built from specially designed automobile vans or trucks. They are painted with crosses and other special markings, and they have sirens and flashing lights to warn drivers and pedestrians of their approach. Airplanes and helicopters also may serve as ambulances. Airplanes can travel long distances quickly, and helicopters can reach places that have no roads or landing strips.
Ambulance is from the Greek word ambulare, ''to move about.'' The usual use of an ambulance is to carry an accident victim or a person with a serious illness to a hospital. Formerly used only for transport, the modern ambulance can be outfitted with sophisticated equipment and staffed by people trained in emergency medical service (Emergency Medical Technicians, or EMTs).
The two main types of ambulances are the civilian and the military. Modern civilian ambulances are built for speed and smooth riding. As a rule they have facilities for one or two patients and an attending physician, nurse, paramedic, or medical technician. Community hospitals, most voluntary and private hospitals and clinics, and, in the larger urban areas, many private firms provide ambulance service.
Because of the rugged conditions in the field, military ambulances are designed for sturdiness rather than for speed and are equipped for emergency treatment of the wounded on the way to collection stations. The military ambulance usually has a load capacity of six ambulatory or four stretcher patients.
In the United States ambulances are required by law to carry specific items of equipment that are necessary for the care of patients. Kits for use in emergency care for breathing failure, heart disorders, broken bones, and burns are standard. The ground vehicles may be provided with everything found in the critical and intensive care units of hospitals, including equipment for intravenous procedures and for heart monitoring, oxygen and other gases, traction devices, and incubators for newborn infants.
Airplanes and helicopters, as well as ground vehicles, may be used as ambulances, and they are similarly equipped. Airplanes are used to reach settlements in remote areas such as the Australian outback, where the Royal Flying Doctor Service has operated for many years. Helicopters are often used for emergency rescue work, when other means of transport cannot reach the victims or transport them quickly enough.
To be effective, an ambulance service must be able to respond to a call for assistance in less than 20 minutes. One ambulance for every 10,000 people is necessary for adequate emergency service. Emergency treatment given immediately following an accident or heart attack can save a life. A cadre of men and women have been trained to deliver treatment in such areas as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, splinting of fractures, and control of bleeding. Basic EMT training is taught in about 80 to 150 hours. Advanced training in special areas, such as that for cardiac technicians, requires as much as 500 hours of training and often more. Much of this is paid for by the United States Public Health Service.
Probably the earliest formal use of an ambulance service was during the Crusades in the 11th and 12th centuries, when men wounded in battle were transported by horse-drawn carts back into their own lines for treatment instead of being left to die. The Spaniards also used ambulance vehicles during the siege of Malaga in 1487. Animal-drawn ambulances were used in the 1850s in the Crimean War. Standardized horse-drawn military ambulances were introduced in the United States during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
