Ambulances

[Guest]

[quote name='Sundog' post='167599' date='Nov 29 2007, 16:16 ']For us non-EMS types, can someone explain the difference between a Critical Care unit and a regular ambulance?



I've been seeing a number of Critical Care Transports from Acadian Ambulance here in Louisiana, and I was wondering what the difference was.



Thanks![/quote]



For the most part a Critical Care Transport Unit does not do run to 9-1-1 jobs. CCTUs transport patients from one hospital to another. Most of the patients are of a critical nature and are somewhat labor and equipment intensive. My agency runs on 24/7 CCTU and a 10 hr CCTU 5 days a week. Primarily they transport patients coming into our my hospital for cardiac related treatments. We also run a 24/7 pediatric CCTU that does the same for kids and neo-nates. The remainder of their runs are trauma transports from other hospital into ours since we are a level 1 trauma center, Children's Hospital, and Transplant Center. The adult CCTUs are staffed with a EMT, a Medic, and a RN/EMT or Medic. The Childrens' unit is staffed with a 3rd year resident, a PICU nurse, a Resp Therapist, and an EMT. Our adult CCTUs are mixed into the 9-1-1 system when they are not scheduled for a transport. Here in NJ CCTUs are specifically licensed by the State. Back in the day I rode this unit for a couple of years. Nice mix although you would be surprised what little it takes to classify a patient as "critical" (the sending physician makes the decision).



More on out PICU Transport Team can be found at: [url="http://www.bmsch.org/about/pediatric-transport.html"]http://www.bmsch.org/about/pediatric-transport.html[/url]



Other CCTUs in NJ:



University Hospital EMS: [url="http://www.uh-ems.org/cctt.html"]http://www.uh-ems.org/cctt.html[/url]



Capital Health EMS: [url="http://www.chsems.org/cct_services.php"]http://www.chsems.org/cct_services.php[/url]