Accidents and other emergency requirements occur on a continual basis and when somebody needs treatment urgently it is often the case that every second matters greatly. Simply due to how the world is in terms of geographical locations and the considerable distances that separate places it is not always immediately possible to deliver everyone to hospital quickly via an ambulance that travels on the roads. To assist with this constant requirement there are air ambulances that are deployed to reach people as quickly as possible and to take them to the closest hospital as safely and as swiftly as they can.

Paramedics

Although it may be suggested that the way in which an air ambulance reaches their destinations is not at all similar to how a road ambulance does, the tasks of the paramedics involved does not change hugely. This is evidenced by the fact that there are many paramedics who have undertaken both air and road ambulance duties during their career. The paramedics also help out the pilot in the respect of identifying the quickest and safest route as well as getting involved in other key tasks. You can appreciate just how multi-functional an air ambulance paramedic’s role is when you consider that they also have to get involved with such duties as keeping in contact with staff at the hospital and those in charge of air traffic control, to name but two.

Type of transportation

You can find air ambulances that use helicopters as well as those that use different types of aircraft such as a Learjet. In the types of air ambulances that are smaller than their road-travelling equivalents all of the necessary equipment and facilities are condensed into the space on board. In terms of how many patients are permitted to be on board an air ambulance at any one time this can vary. You can find those that allow just one or two to be on board whereas some others can accommodate more than ten patients.

The biggest reasons behind why an air ambulance would be used in a situation is when the location that a patient has to be taken from is unreachable by road or when it is deemed extremely important to cut down the amount of journey time for the well-being of those requiring treatment. An air ambulance service can cover an area of a few thousand square-feet and they always check over the patient when they reach the scene before making a decision on which hospital to go to.