Ambulance Care – for Healthcare Professionals
In Region Uppsala, ambulance services are integrated with other emergency healthcare services. There are four ambulance stations in the county, located in Enköping, Tierp, Uppsala and Östhammar. We respond to more than 41,000 assignments each year. Many medical interventions are carried out before the patient reaches hospital.
Ambulance Care – for Healthcare Professionals
In Region Uppsala, ambulance services are integrated with other emergency healthcare services. There are four ambulance stations in the county, located in Enköping, Tierp, Uppsala and Östhammar. We respond to more than 41,000 assignments each year. Many medical interventions are carried out before the patient reaches hospital.
Our purpose and operations
What is an ambulance?
An ambulance is a vehicle equipped to provide emergency medical care to patients outside a hospital setting. It offers rapid transportation combined with medical treatment to the nearest healthcare facility.
Ambulance priority levels
Priority 1
Dispatches involving life-threatening symptoms or accidents. The emergency call operator dispatches the nearest available ambulance, which responds using blue lights and sirens.
Priority 2
Dispatches where the patient does not have life-threatening symptoms but requires urgent medical care. The ambulance responds to the location without blue lights or sirens.
Priority 3
Ambulance assignments where a reasonable waiting time will not affect the patient's condition. These assignments may be scheduled in advance.
Our patient groups
Medical patients
Most commonly older patients with conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and similar illnesses.
Surgical patients
Patients of all ages. Common reasons include abdominal pain or injuries resulting from accidents of varying severity.
Orthopaedic patients
Most commonly older patients with different types of fractures following falls. Hip fractures are among the most common fall-related injuries in older adults.
Organisation and roles
The Ambulance and Emergency Care service is one of 25 operational areas within Akademiska sjukhuset. Support functions include HR consultants, financial controllers, IT coordinators and payroll administrators.
The ambulance service is organised as a line organisation.
Contact
Director of Operations: Carina Jangborg, telephone 018 617 10 67
Deputy Director of Operations: Hans Blomberg, telephone 070 684 19 12
Section Head: David Amour, telephone 018 611 09 11
Section Administrator: Marika Ahlberg Svedenskiöld, telephone 018 611 32 10
Our different roles within the organisation
With the patien
Many of our assignments involve providing advanced medical care to ill or injured people in their homes or in public places, for example outdoors.
Delivering high-quality care under widely varying conditions, including limited space and challenging weather conditions, is an ongoing challenge. It is not uncommon for us to carry approximately 50 kilograms of equipment into someone's home in order to perform our task: treating seriously ill and injured patients.
In public places, our work is often witnessed by large crowds.
In the ambulance
A modern emergency ambulance can best be described as a modern emergency treatment room on wheels.
Advanced medical care is provided in the ambulance while transporting patients to hospital, using equipment that may, in some cases, exceed what is available in certain hospital settings. During transport, it is important that the driver operates the vehicle in a way that allows staff to work safely while ensuring the best possible experience and care for the patient.
At the station
Between assignments, staff are based at the ambulance station. There are always work tasks to be completed when time permits. Examples include:
- Maintaining and practising medical skills.
- Training with equipment that is used infrequently.
- Vehicle maintenance.
- Repairing damaged equipment.
- Ordering supplies.
- Physical training.
- Laundering personal work uniforms.
Environment
Akademiska sjukhuset was environmentally certified in autumn 2005 in accordance with the ISO 14001 environmental management system and EMAS. As part of this process, environmental audits were carried out within the ambulance service, which also met the requirements for certification according to SS-EN ISO 14001:2004. Each station has an environmental representative.
The ambulance service's commitment to environmental issues aims to contribute to long-term sustainable development. Some of the initiatives we pursue include:
- Waste sorting and recycling.
- Environmentally certified vehicle wash facilities.
- Coordinated patient transport to reduce the number of kilometres driven.
- Eco-driving.
- Re-use of patient-care compartments in our large ambulance vehicles.
- Engines powered by environmentally friendly fuels.
- Reduced use of nitrous oxide (laughing gas).