Ambulance officers give transport to accident victims from the scenes of accidents to the nearest hospital or from one hospital to another, and assist paramedics.
They assist paramedics in trying to determine the nature and extent of the patient’s injuries or illness, and give appropriate emergency care, such as treatment for shock, controlling bleeding, restoring breathing, assisting mothers in childbirth, administering oxygen, bandaging wounds, opening airways, managing emotionally disturbed patients, treating and assisting heart attack victims, administering intravenous fluids and using defibrillators, as well as other intensive care procedures.
Patients have to be transported quickly yet safely. These workers have to be reliable and responsible and never reckless. Sometimes an ambulance officer has to transport emergency equipment to the scene of an accident in cases where many people have to be treated at the same time, for example, given oxygen. Emergency care workers have to be ready at all times to respond quickly.
Ambulance officers work with: ambulances, trolleys, oxygen tanks, clean linen, drips, latex gloves, backboards, defibrillators and a wide variety of other medical equipment and supplies.
Working environments include: indoors and outdoors, in all types of weather, depending on the scene of the accident - vehicle accidents, cave-ins, collapsed buildings, mudslides, earthquake scenes, drowning accidents and fires.