Ambulance Ops

NysEms2117

NysEms2117

ex-Parole officer/EMT
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Has anybody ever experienced a mechanical failure of the ambulance itself while transporting a patient? I know "Rig checks" and all that, but sometimes **** just kinda happens. It happened to my good buddy that was working today, just wondering if there is anything special you could do (ex: does the patient compartment have a "backup" battery to run it if you cannot get the ambulance started/it dies in transport). Just kinda curious because i'm into cars and such, but know almost nothing about ambulances(mechanically).
 
I've had a few breakdowns over the years (nothing major, our fleet guys are pretty good and the trucks are on an aggressive preventative maintenance schedule) but nothing that would cause such a catastrophic failure I couldn't still draw electrical or even keep the truck idling. The most unpredictable breakdown I've ever had was a rad that cracked right down a weld on a hot day; truck was still drivable well enough to limp to HQ out of service.
 
Pretty sure the majority of providers have had that happen.

It's going to depend on the ambulance and who makes it as well as company policy. All of our ambulances have 2 sets of batteries. 1-2 for the engine and then 1-4 for the patient compartment. If the engine batteries are dead we have a switch that will let us use the power from the patient compartment to start it up.

We are not allowed to do any mechanical repairs or even change a tire.
 
DesertMedic66 said:
Private
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I just recently got hired so I'm not trying to start anything, but would working for a city, or a sheriffs ems unit have a little bit more wiggle room would you think?
 
Same here, private. Any in field mechanical failures are road called.

We call the supervisor who in turn goes through the proper channels to get our fleet mechanic to our location, yes, even out of county (within reason).

When the mechanic shows up, depending on the problem, they may carry the part to fix the problem and/ or place us back in service.

If the ambulance is not drivable, our contracted tow service arrives and tows it to our shop, or elsewhere, depending on the situation.
 
NysEms2117 said:
I just recently got hired so I'm not trying to start anything, but would working for a city, or a sheriffs ems unit have a little bit more wiggle room would you think?
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Can't say for sure, but my guess a lot of it would come down to good old fashioned liability.
 
NysEms2117 said:
I just recently got hired so I'm not trying to start anything, but would working for a city, or a sheriffs ems unit have a little bit more wiggle room would you think?
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Going to vary greatly. I know a decent amount of police departments who are not allowed to do anything mechanical or even change a tire
 
DesertMedic66 said:
Going to vary greatly. I know a decent amount of police departments who are not allowed to do anything mechanical or even change a tire
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VentMonkey said:
Can't say for sure, but my guess a lot of it would come down to good old fashioned liability.
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I know for the state car i drive at my main job i cannot do anything mechanical due to liabilities, but i know the Sheriffs in the county i live in can do "basic auto repairs". what that actually means, i dont know, due to the fact basic auto repairs to a car savvy individual is far surpassing a flat tire, however thanks for the input :)
 
I work for a city and we are specifically NOT allowed to do any repairs on vehicles. Any breakdowns, of any sort, and we have to call our supervisor and fleet services. If there's a pax onboard another medic unit will be dispatched to come pick up the pt and they'll assume care & transport. We have contracts in place for tire changes and towing. We do have a large fleet maintenance facility where most work is done in-house, so vehicles are just towed back to our HQ to the repair facility.

On my FTO, we dropped off a pt at a hospital where we park in a underground ambulance bay. I got in to drive back to station, put the truck in 'R' and it lurched forward (towards the wall). Put in in park. Tried again, put it in 'R' and the engine just revved. Put it in 'D' and it went backwards.. for a little bit.. then just revved. We ended up pushing it backwards so we could get the nose pointed towards the exit, drove up & out of the bay in '3', made it about 100 yards down the road and there was a huge THUNK BANG and that was the end of the transmission. We pulled over, called supervisor and had a nap while we waited for a tow.
 
NysEms2117 said:
I know for the state car i drive at my main job i cannot do anything mechanical due to liabilities, but i know the Sheriffs in the county i live in can do "basic auto repairs". what that actually means, i dont know, due to the fact basic auto repairs to a car savvy individual is far surpassing a flat tire, however thanks for the input :)
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I would say that it's not worth the danger or liability, especially on an ambulance...but I wouldn't change a tire (even on a compact car) unless I really had to (AAA has hydraulic jacks and lots of insurance, I do not ;)).
 
Had this happen to the other on duty crew when I was working about a month ago. It was about 0300 and we awoke to our friends calling us asking for assistance half a mile away cause their rig's suspension blew out while transporting a 5150. So we respond after contacting dispatch and transfer pt care to our gurney into our rig and then my partner drives them to their destination. I hop into the broken rig and I go with a friend back to ops. The suspension was literally gone, we were bumping up and down the whole way back. It was a night to remember.
 
Specialized said:
Had this happen to the other on duty crew when I was working about a month ago. It was about 0300 and we awoke to our friends calling us asking for assistance half a mile away cause their rig's suspension blew out while transporting a 5150. So we respond after contacting dispatch and transfer pt care to our gurney into our rig and then my partner drives them to their destination. I hop into the broken rig and I go with a friend back to ops. The suspension was literally gone, we were bumping up and down the whole way back. It was a night to remember.
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You're nicer than me. I would've taken or care and told them to deal with their broken ambulance hah.


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Handsome Robb said:
You're nicer than me. I would've taken or care and told them to deal with their broken ambulance hah.


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Thought about it haha. The EMT teching the call is an FTO and he was with a trainee. They jumped into our rig and my partner drove them. I on the other hand volunteered to jump in the broken rig with the FTO's partner. And she just happens to be pretty cute. So... ;)
 
I would not do any sort of work on an ambulance unless I thought that not doing so would really negatively effect patient care. About the only thing we do is put tire chains on.

We did have an engine blow up on us last year responding to a call. Spent thirty minutes stuck in a sunless canyon in below zero temps till they brought a backup to us...and then we went to the call.
 
Tigger said:
About the only thing we do is put tire chains on.
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Same for us. Seeing as how we're in the southern California desert I highly doubt that we'll put those on.
 
NysEms2117 said:
Has anybody ever experienced a mechanical failure of the ambulance itself while transporting a patient? I know "Rig checks" and all that, but sometimes **** just kinda happens. It happened to my good buddy that was working today, just wondering if there is anything special you could do (ex: does the patient compartment have a "backup" battery to run it if you cannot get the ambulance started/it dies in transport). Just kinda curious because i'm into cars and such, but know almost nothing about ambulances(mechanically).
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We blew a radiator once whilst transporting, in a middle of nowhere on a very hot (100+) day. 1st thing to do is to let dispatch & on-duty supe know, then just sit and wait for the cavalry. The envelope came in handy, we took turns & fanned the pt with it.

The rigs have a regular & emergency start systems, and if the latter doesn't work there's nothing you can do. The mechanical check-up on the rig only deals with the obvious (fluids, tires, visible mechanical defects, lights & sirens etc), everything else is motorpool personnel's problems.
 
CALEMT said:
Same for us. Seeing as how we're in the southern California desert I highly doubt that we'll put those on.
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Oh we can't do that at my AMR op hah. But my full time employer is in the mountains so it is a needed skill.
 
Tigger said:
Oh we can't do that at my AMR op hah. But my full time employer is in the mountains so it is a needed skill.
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Really? Your AMR op in Colorado doesn't allow you to put on tire chains, yet my AMR op in SoCAL does. Interesting...
 
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