You're doing EMS in the wrong city

[deleted109597]

From here
BERLIN (Reuters) - Emergency patients in the German city of Stuttgart will be rushed to hospital with extra speed and style after the fire brigade added two custom-made luxury Porsche cars to its fleet.

Each Cayenne model, a SUV worth about 70,000 euros, is equipped with a siren which Porsche says can be better heard by drivers and pedestrians and clears the roads faster.

"It was a difficult process; the interior had to be completely changed," Porsche spokesman Heiner von der Laden said Wednesday.

"We had to equip a standard model with ECG, defibrillator, oxygen supply and other medical apparatus."

Many other German cities use Mercedes and Volkswagen for their emergency medical services. Porsche said its reputation for quality and speed helped it win the deal in Stuttgart, where the company is based.

Porsche executive Thomas Edig said the company does not plan to pursue more business in the medical emergency services sector. Moscow is the only other city to use the prestigious luxury brand as an emergency vehicle, Porsche said.

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[leviathan]

From here
BERLIN (Reuters) - Emergency patients in the German city of Stuttgart will be rushed to hospital with extra speed and style after the fire brigade added two custom-made luxury Porsche cars to its fleet.

Each Cayenne model, a SUV worth about 70,000 euros, is equipped with a siren which Porsche says can be better heard by drivers and pedestrians and clears the roads faster.

"It was a difficult process; the interior had to be completely changed," Porsche spokesman Heiner von der Laden said Wednesday.

"We had to equip a standard model with ECG, defibrillator, oxygen supply and other medical apparatus."

Many other German cities use Mercedes and Volkswagen for their emergency medical services. Porsche said its reputation for quality and speed helped it win the deal in Stuttgart, where the company is based.

Porsche executive Thomas Edig said the company does not plan to pursue more business in the medical emergency services sector. Moscow is the only other city to use the prestigious luxury brand as an emergency vehicle, Porsche said.

I had a chance to visit the old Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, but they weren't done building the new one. I wonder what a Cayenne ambulance looks like.

 

[igcgnerd]

http://www.autoblog.com/tag/cayenne+ambulance/
Looks stupid to me. Pics in link above.

 

[Toohotinvegas33]

http://www.autoblog.com/tag/cayenne+ambulance/
Looks stupid to me. Pics in link above.

In silver its not bad, I might make it my daily driver in the future.

 

[pseudoknot]

http://www.autoblog.com/tag/cayenne+ambulance/
Looks stupid to me. Pics in link above.

That light bar on the green and silver one has to go. Otherwise it's cool, if somewhat ridiculous and impractical.

EDIT: found a pic of the actual one from the current story:
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/09/stuttgart-ems-gets-a-pair-of-porsche-cayennes/

 

[igcgnerd]

If you click in the pic in the link it shows the interior. It looks ridiculously small and doesn't really look like its good for patient care cus you don't have access to the head, only the driver does. Hard to steer and bag w/ a BVM at the same time. To think I used to complain type 2 ambulances were small, at least for me I'm 6'4 and 200 lbs so I can't even imagine being in the back of one of those.

 

[docB]

Wow. It's hard to think of anything that would be more expensive, change outcomes less and be more dangerous to the patient, crew and public in general that using race car/ambulances.

 

[EMT2RN2MD]

The added expense is completely justifiable. After all, it comes with that unique Porsche siren. It just clears the roads so much quicker.

 

[Hallm_7]

Those are incredibly small. If someone went into cardiac arrest or needed to be intubated they'd have to stop and pull the patient out of the car/ambulance. I don't see how anyone could get on top of a patient to do compressions or how they could get access to their head and neck to intubate.

 

[southerndoc]

This is not a patient transport unit. It's a rapid response vehicle to get a physician to the scene quickly. I'm not sure why the article says that patients can get to the hospital quicker because it's not a patient transport unit.

(I have experience with Berlin's EMS system because of research done during residency.)

 

[pseudoknot]

This is not a patient transport unit. It's a rapid response vehicle to get a physician to the scene quickly. I'm not sure why the article says that patients can get to the hospital quicker because it's not a patient transport unit.

(I have experience with Berlin's EMS system because of research done during residency.)

It's not clear what the configuration of the Stuttgart units is, but the first generation ones were definitely outfitted for transport, although maybe only as a last resort:

 

[docB]

This is not a patient transport unit. It's a rapid response vehicle to get a physician to the scene quickly. I'm not sure why the article says that patients can get to the hospital quicker because it's not a patient transport unit.

(I have experience with Berlin's EMS system because of research done during residency.)

I thought the Europeans had given up on the whole get a doc to the scene and have an extended scene time paradigm after the Princess Diana fiasco.

 

[southerndoc]

I thought the Europeans had given up on the whole get a doc to the scene and have an extended scene time paradigm after the Princess Diana fiasco.

Nope, physicians still respond to calls (at least in Berlin). BLS crews transport the vast majority of patients, but a physician can respond and transport more serious emergencies (MI's, hypoglycemia, etc.).

There are certain keywords that trigger a physician (ALS) response, such as "severe bleeding," unresponsive, chest pain, etc.

Some of the BLS units are configured in such a way that a second stretcher can be utilized. This is likely why the Berlin physician response vehicles have a stretcher, although they could also transport in a last resort. However, there isn't any room for patient care, making this scenario highly unlikely. There is a large "tray" that pulls out to allow easy access to monitor, drugs, airway bag, etc. When that tray is in the response vehicle, it takes up all room next to the stretcher. So I don't see how an attendant can even remotely treat a patient in the unit.

On another note, pre-hospital physicians in Berlin are either trained in cardiology or anesthesiology.

 

[jbar]

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/porsche-cayenne-ambulance/238206/

(picture 4/4)

From this picture it looks like there is a seat between the equipment and the driver's seat. Not sure where the tray goes in relation to what's in there in this pic. I agree that the seat is not well positioned, hard to turn sideways to tube etc but might be okay for minor injuries and illness.

 

[pseudoknot]

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/porsche-cayenne-ambulance/238206/

(picture 4/4)

From this picture it looks like there is a seat between the equipment and the driver's seat. Not sure where the tray goes in relation to what's in there in this pic. I agree that the seat is not well positioned, hard to turn sideways to tube etc but might be okay for minor injuries and illness.

That gallery is of the first one from two years ago, that was made for internal use by Porsche. It definitely had transport capability, although clearly not very conveniently. We don't know whether the Stuttgart Fire ones that prompted this thread are configured the same way.

Now, for an ALS quick response vehicle, I think a motorcycle would be much cooler...er, I mean, beneficial to patients...

 

[BostonEMT]

Gonna echo what others have said here and guess that it's an ALS interceptor vehicle, or "flycar", not transport. These vehicles (at my service we use new Ford Explorers fitted with lights and siren) are becoming increasingly common in EMS and usually include an intubation kit, drug box, monitor, etc.