Ambulance drivers navigate levels

This is the third instalment in Automotives' series on the training requirements for emergency vehicle drivers. Today we focus on ambulance drivers.

Sheldon Williams, Gleaner Writer

In a health emergency, the ideal means of transportation to a care facility is an ambulance. The drivers responsible for transporting patients are emergency medical vehicle operators (EMVO) or emergency medical technician vehicle operators (EMTVO).

EMVOs are primarily drivers who have first-aid experience and can, within limits, assist emergency medical technicians (EMTs). On the other hand EMTVOs are more than just drivers, as they would have received tertiary level EMT certification.

Diahann Campbell, general manager at private ambulance service Ambucare, explained, "The industry has different standards. In Jamaica we don't have paramedics; we have EMTs, EMVOs and EMTVOs. An EMT is someone who goes to do a six to eight weeks course and learns all the basic stuff and they can do everything, but they can't administer medication because the law doesn't allow them. That person doesn't necessarily have a driver's licence, but if you have one and you know how to drive an emergency vehicle you may then decide to do a first aid or first responder course. That is the ground level in the EMS (Emergency Medical Services) field".

First Aid or First Responder courses provide training in bandaging, lifting, splinting, spinal immobilisation and putting patients in a recovery position, among other areas.

"If this particular person has that qualification and they have the appropriate licence and they do the defensive driving and they know how to drive the emergency vehicle, they become an EMVO. If this particular person decides to up their ante and attend the six to eight week course at any of the universities which offer, the EMT course they will then become an EMTVO, which means they would have earned the certification," Campbell added. A 4000 L/W licence is required to operate an ambulance.

Peter Wynter, who has 15 years experience as an EMT and is training supervisor at Ambucare, said first-aid training can be done at any certified institution and usually lasts about two days. For the defensive driving skills that ambulance drivers require, he said "we would do our own training sometimes, but students would go to Grenell's Driving School".

Vital driving skills

Wynter further explained that drivers learn about road surfaces and how to prevent accidents. After completing the defensive driving course, candidates are exposed to at least two weeks of additional training conducted by Ambucare to familiarise them with the operation of emergency vehicles such as operating switches, turning on oxygen and learning how to identify equipment.

Ambulance driver candidates also have to learn proper siren use and appropriate speeds to maintain when transporting patients. "Every patient condition differs," Wynter said.

On the other hand, if someone applies to an ambulance service after completing the basic EMT requirements, he or she would immediately be considered an EMTVO. They would be authorised to check vitals, assess patients and their documentation, among other things. The EMT training, which lasts 10 weeks, consists of eight weeks in a classroom (practical, hands-on and theory), then two weeks hospital training and ambulance rides.

Wynter emphasised "they (universities) don't teach you how to drive ambulances; you have to apply to an ambulance service".

One of his more interesting experiences, Wynter said was "responding to a call, a person with medical experience pronounced a lady dead and cancelled the ambulance. But because I was already nearby I asked my supervisors if I could go anyway. When we got there, the patient was unresponsive but we opened her airway, gave her oxygen, started chest compression, conducted CPR and, en route to the hospital, the person started breathing and talking."

"We have experienced more than one of those cases," Wynter said.