If it weren't for this new coronavirus outbreak, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to learn so much about a vehicle we all don't want to get into in our lifetime: the ambulance. In the face of this highly contagious disease, our common ambulance may not be able to handle the transportation of such patients and emergency care. At this point we need to understand a higher level of protection than the ordinary ambulance ambulance - negative pressure ambulance.
What is a negative pressure ambulance?
Negative pressure and ambulance are two words that need to be looked at separately. Essentially, a negative pressure ambulance is an ambulance equipped with negative pressure technology. So we might as well say the two words separately and then combine them at the end. First of all, the most basic is the ambulance, take this opportunity we also come to a thorough understanding of some ambulances have what god equipment.
What equipment is in an ambulance?
Ambulances are actually divided into different uses from a professional point of view, and can be roughly divided into pre-hospital ambulances, transfer ambulances, women and children emergency type, emergency rescue ambulances, custodial ambulances. According to the different purposes, the equipment inside the car will also be very different. For example, the purpose of the transfer type ambulance is to transfer patients, generally do not need to carry some particularly critical patients, so the equipment standard of this type of ambulance will be lower, to meet the basic emergency conditions can be.
The other extreme is the more professional guardianship ambulance, this kind of ambulance not only need to achieve the basic purpose of transferring patients, but also in the ambulance to complete a more complex monitoring of all kinds of signs, if necessary, but also to carry out the basic rescue type of work. Therefore, the equipment in the vehicle will be more complex. For example, ventilators, defibrillators, cardiac monitors, in the transfer of special patients will also increase the number of special instruments for this type of condition.
To see the domestic ambulance standardized configuration list
The following figure is the domestic ambulance standardized configuration developed by a local government, to enter the ambulance procurement directory, you have to meet the needs of the following equipment list. As you can see, these configurations can already meet the task of emergency care for critically ill patients, not just a simple transfer.
The government has strict standards for ambulance equipment, and has also made clear rules on the medicines that can be used in the vehicles. Familiar drugs such as epinephrine, dopamine, atropine and other life-saving medicines must be in the ambulance.
What is negative pressure?
From the level of interpretation of the term, it is the air in a space to be extracted, the absolute pressure of the extracted air flow is less than the absolute pressure outside, the pressure is negative. In layman's terms, the word negative pressure in fact have car users should have experienced, its process is actually like we open the sunroof when driving, the car smoke or odor sucked out of this process.
Negative pressure + ambulance, the new coronavirus completely isolated
Then negative pressure ambulance within the negative pressure system is similar to the principle of driving with the sunroof open. First of all, you need to set up a very confined space in the car, and then set up a negative pressure to the exhaust system, the air inside the car constantly pumped out, making the air pressure inside the car is lower than -20Pa, and the discharged air needs to be strictly inactivated filtration, so that the virus shall not be leaked. This not only protects the car medical personnel from being infected, but also prevents the virus from spreading to the outside world.
Simply put, the negative pressure system ambulance air flow is this: clean air outside the car → car → medical personnel → patients → discharged out of the car.
In the case of highly contagious and lethal viruses, a more specialized in-vehicle isolation chamber is required. The isolation chamber can be air pumped into the cabin, and the virus bacteria filtration and then discharged, so that the two layers of protection basically completely eliminate the possibility of contagion.
What brands are in production in China?
From the OEM level, there are quite a few brands that produce negative pressure ambulances, and those van manufacturers that you know well have corresponding ambulance versions. For example, JLF's Transit, SAIC Datsun V80, Jinbei Haili, Foton Tuyano, Dongfeng Yufeng, and so on. Of course, there are also a number of special vehicle conversion manufacturers have the ability to manufacture ambulances as well as negative pressure ambulances. They buy vans produced by major OEMs and thus carry out highly customized modifications.
Of course, fighting an epidemic requires more than just a negative-pressure ambulance. The first thing to do is to do a good job of self-protection, if the mass infection begins, then how many negative-pressure ambulances will not help. We would like to remind you to wear a mask when you go out and wash your hands when you go home. And to the majority of medical workers to say, you hard work.
This article comes from the authors of the AutoZone, and does not represent the views of the AutoZone position.