Emergency Medical Service

Emergency medical service (EMS) is a special medical service that provides out-of-hospital medical care and transportation of patients with illnesses and injuries to hospitals. It is carried out by the specialized facility called the First Aid Station. It is on duty all day long. Calls are made to the First Aid Station in case of an accident or a sudden severe illness. There are a lot of ambulances at the First Aid Station. They all are well-equipped with first-aid kits. First-aid kit is a special case which contains all the necessary things for rendering the first aid and making a diagnosis: ampoules, boxes, vials with different drugs and tubes with liniment; alcohol, cotton wadding, disposable syringes for IV and IM injections; antiseptics, brilliant green, iodine, adhesive plasters to clean and close wounds; bandage and tourniquet to stop bleeding; inhalers for people suffering from respiratory diseases; enema, probe, hot water bottle for those who have troubles with the gastrointestinal tract; masks and gloves for the first-aid doctors for their personal protection. Among medicines, there are pain-killers, tonics, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory remedies, emetics and anti-emetics, antipyretics, sedatives and hypnotics, laxatives and suppositories in the first-aid kit. It may contain even narcotic medicines to relieve pain in severe cases. The ambulances also carry artificial respiration apparatus, sets of splints and stretchers, thermometers to take the temperature, tonometers to measure blood pressure, portable electrocardiograph to monitor a patient’s heart work.

There are several kinds of ambulance teams that are trained to deliver specialized medical aid: cardiac intensive care teams, psychiatric care teams, children’s emergency, etc. Each ambulance is equipped with appropriate instruments according to their qualification.

All ambulances are radio equipped. To call in an ambulance it is necessary to dial up 103. The dispatcher is responsible for the “pre-arrival” instructions: he receives the call, asks for all the important details (for example, the address of an accident, types of injuries) and then directs the corresponding ambulance.

The ambulance team usually consists of an ambulance doctor, medical assistant (or paramedic), and non-registered nurse. The main thing in the work of the ambulance doctor is to make a correct diagnosis quickly. That’s why the doctor must have deep knowledge of emergency surgery, toxicology, emergency therapy, obstetrics and gynecology. The paramedic helps the doctor and usually prepares the necessary instruments for a certain procedure. The duty of the non-registered nurse is to keep the first-aid kit in order. There is also an ambulance driver who is trained to transport people carefully.

In Ukraine there are government-financed and private ambulance services. The main function of the latter is mainly to transport a patient to the hospital.

Exercise 6. Answer the questions:

1. What is Emergency medical service?

2. What does the emergency medical service provide?

3. How many hours a day do the First Aid Stations work?

4. What are the ambulances equipped with?

5. What medical things does the first-aid kit contain?

6. What drugs are there in the first-aid kit?

7. What are the members of the ambulance team? What are their duties?

8. What types of ambulance services are in Ukraine?

Exercise 7. Guess the word:

Exercise 8. Join the words so as to make up word-combinations. Translate them into Ukrainian:

Exercise 9. Find the appropriate object to each verb. Make up your own sentence with one of the expression:

List A – Verbs: to measure, to render, to monitor, to close, to relieve, to suffer from, to make, to stop;

List B – Nouns: bleeding, a diagnosis, first aid, pain, wounds, blood pressure, a disease, the heart work.

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