Ambulance

An ambulance is a <a href="/facts/Medical_device/uzUHp474">medically-equipped</a> vehicle used to transport <a href="/facts/Patient/b0SWyyVD">patients</a> to <a href="/facts/Health_facility/U9LKT3lS">treatment facilities</a>, such as <a href="/facts/Hospital/WaryeVJd">hospitals</a>. Typically, out-of-hospital <a href="/facts/Medical_care/LPS1WKbI">medical care</a> is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to <a href="/facts/Medical_emergency/5W8eARep">medical emergencies</a> by <a href="/facts/Emergency_medical_services/K1uGpEH0">emergency medical services</a> (EMS), and can rapidly transport <a href="/facts/Paramedic/crUNVATd">paramedics</a> and other <a href="/facts/First_responder/gvbQCtUl">first responders</a>, carry equipment for administering <a href="/facts/Emergency_medicine/HmVeC5R9">emergency care</a>, and transport patients to hospital or other definitive care. Most ambulances use a design based on <a href="/facts/Van/kprf6QXL">vans</a> or <a href="/facts/Pickup_truck/Pe5zVzIB">pickup trucks</a>, though others take the form of <a href="/facts/Motorcycle_ambulance/vJx2SJW6">motorcycles</a>, <a href="/facts/Ambulance_bus/g4u6f332">buses</a>, <a href="/facts/Hearse/Q9NuKs4k">hearses</a>, <a href="/facts/Air_medical_services/3Ntut0Cu">aircraft</a> and <a href="/facts/Water_ambulance/3ccwB5cU">boats</a>.
Ambulances are generally considered <a href="/facts/Emergency_vehicle/IFdx96oC">emergency vehicles</a> authorized to be <a href="/facts/Emergency_vehicle_equipment/XczhdkMg">equipped</a> with <a href="/facts/Emergency_vehicle_lighting/guuAvEAp">emergency lights</a> and <a href="/facts/Siren_(alarm)/RHtWCJJq">sirens</a>. Generally, vehicles count as an ambulance if they can transport patients. However, it varies by jurisdiction as to whether a <a href="/facts/Patient_transport/4uXxJAwP">non-emergency patient transport</a> vehicle (also called an ambulette) is counted as an ambulance. These vehicles are not usually (although there are exceptions) equipped with life-support equipment, and are usually crewed by staff with fewer qualifications than the crew of emergency ambulances. Conversely, EMS agencies may also have <a href="/facts/Nontransporting_EMS_vehicle/02pGATC5">nontransporting EMS vehicles</a> that cannot transport patients.
The term ambulance comes from the <a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a> word ambulare as meaning 'to walk or move about' which is a reference to early medical care where patients were moved by lifting or wheeling. The word originally meant a moving hospital, which follows an army in its movements. Ambulances (ambulancias in Spanish) were first used for emergency transport in 1487 by the Spanish forces during the <a href="/facts/Siege_of_M%25C3%25A1laga_(1487)/s03FXv1A">siege of Málaga</a> by the Catholic Monarchs against the Emirate of Granada. During the <a href="/facts/American_Civil_War/A9FT3ksD">American Civil War</a> vehicles for conveying the wounded off the field of battle were called ambulance wagons. <a href="/facts/Field_hospital/7v7u2HD1">Field hospitals</a> were still called ambulances during the <a href="/facts/Franco-Prussian_War/DU9aBkVB">Franco-Prussian War</a> of 1870 and in the Serbo-Turkish war of 1876 even though the wagons were first referred to as ambulances about 1854 during the <a href="/facts/Crimean_War/v163wdr8">Crimean War</a>.

Ambulance open-in-new

Ambulance