AHS rolls out new ambulances with increased safety features for patients, paramedics

Alberta Health Services has started rolling out new ambulances it says will improve safety for patients and paramedics.

The new ambulance design comes after a provincial study conducted by AHS Emergency Medical Services, along with researchers from the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, AHS said in a media release Friday.

Mike Plato, with AHS EMS, said they spent nearly two years working with front-line staff, studying how they moved around in an ambulance, where they looked and where they tended to reach and support themselves in the moving vehicle.

“We know that it’s safest when paramedics can provide care from one of the three seats in the patient compartment, safely belted in, so part of what we wanted to do was determine how to reconfigure the area around the seats to limit how frequently paramedics need to get up,” Plato said.

Some of the changes coming to Alberta’s fleet of ambulances include:

• Improved overall layout and seat design to encourage seatbelt use
• Rounded corners on interior surfaces to prevent injuries
• Adding lips or rounded edges to counters to prevent falling objects
• Putting most-used tools and equipment in easy reach of the primary caregiver seat
• Placing garbage and sharps containers in better proximity to the primary seat
• Additional grab handle added for stability
• Adding a hydraulic lift for main oxygen tank
• Additional work surfaces added (drawers, pull-out shelving)

“Ambulances that are safer for paramedics are also safer for patients,” EMS chief paramedic Darren Sandbeck said.

“When we are able to reduce the likelihood of the paramedic needing to navigate around a moving vehicle – even carefully navigate – there’s less risk of the paramedic being injured during a sudden stop or evasive manoeuvre, and less risk to the patient.”

There are about 420 ambulances in the AHS EMS fleet in Alberta. AHS said 60 to 70 ambulances are replaced with new vehicles every year. There will be no extra cost for the modifications, AHS said. About two-thirds of the ambulance fleet already includes some of the new design changes, AHS said.

AHS has recently made other modifications to its ambulances, including new power load stretchers. AHS said the number of on-the-job injuries for EMS staff has dropped 16 per cent in the last three years.