Type II ambulances on 911-calls

[Kaisu]

We run both. I prefer the big box, especially as a previous poster mentioned, for patient access on the right. I have figured out that sometimes I have to straddle the patient on the stretcher to get to a difficult stick on the only good vein I can see. The van sure is nimble in tight spots, and while my job is not to worry about economics, the more efficient our business unit is, the nicer corporate is with new toys and raises. In the immortal words of Tim Gunn, we make it work.

[Richard B the EMT]

It can get a little cramped with 2 patients on backboards but the only thing I wish we could carry is a stair chair.

Even in a big type 1, it can get cramped with 2 patients on spinal long boards.

I ask a clarification. You mention the stair chair. Don't your minimum equipment lists for your jurisdiction require one? Or, do they allow you to transport a patient in them when the chair is in the ambulance during the transportation? Here in New York State, we used to be allowed to do that, and I remember the catalogs selling restraint devices to "secure" an occupied stair chair to the ambulance floor. 'Tain't the case any more, as it ain't allowed.

[JPINFV]

You mention the stair chair. Don't your minimum equipment lists for your jurisdiction require one?

They weren't required where I worked.

[Richard B the EMT]

They weren't required where I worked.

:shock:

Really? Wow.

[rock_shoes]

I've never even been in a type II. Our service hasn't used them for around 10 years. The only ones that are left are use as medical support units (van full of extra supplies for mass casualty incidents).

[defib_wizard]

no a stair chair is not required equipment where I work. We have one so if it is needed it can be brought to the scene. But that delays transport.

[Richard B the EMT]

Unless an FDNY EMS crew knows a stretcher can be brought in to a scene, the carry chair is mandatory to be brought in by the crew, along with the Defib and the "first in bag, AKA "Jump kit".

[CBEMT]

They weren't required where I worked.

Not here either. But even the cheap-ass privates have them, though none of them spring for the ones with tracks. My old boss told me that the vast majority of a private service's stairchair carries are going UP, at which point the tracks are just excess weight.

[Richard B the EMT]

You just reminded me that the FDNY EMS is about to place 10 of those "tracked" chairs in 2 ambulances per borough (we have 5 of them, ya know) for "testing, per the salesman of the brand being tested. I met the salesman at the "Pulse Check" convention.

[emtannie]

we run out of type 2's. It can get a little cramped with 2 patients on backboards but the only thing I wish we could carry is a stair chair. Other than that we have a lot of equipment on them.

We worked out of a van style ambulance for years.. Yes it can be cramped, but you learn to adjust. For rural calls, I found that the one we had handled quite nicely on gravel roads, where our newer mod is a rougher ride.

It is required for us to carry a stair chair. When we had the van, we had an older style scoop stretcher (the ones that fold in the middle) which was mounted to the inside side door, and the stair chair was in a niche at the back of the bench seat... not the most convenient, but it worked.

For the most part, I do like the mod better, as it has more room, and all our equipment can be stored in cabinets, unlike our van which had equipment strapped to wherever we could find room to mount it safely. What I miss about our van was that it handled more smoothly on rural roads, and was quieter in the back than our diesel mod.