Fly-car



A fly-car, also known as a RRV (rapid response vehicle), QRV (quick response vehicle), ERV (Emergency Response Vehicles) , Medic-car or simply an ambulance car, is a production car (often a station wagon or SUV as they have greater carrying capacity) which is provided and manned by an emergency medical service organization in order to provide transport to their staff. The fly-car enables the crew (often a lone responder) to bring their equipment quickly to the scene of an emergency, and may carry most of the same equipment as a full size ambulance, although it is likely to be limited in its capacity to transport patients.

Purpose
A fly-car can help emergency medical organizations use their resources more efficiently, sending this smaller vehicle to the scene of an emergency call, where they can assess an incident's severity (especially where there is reason to suspect the injury or illness is not serious) and call in additional help if required.

The units can also provide 'first aid' assistance for those cases which do not require hospital treatment, and can be dealt with by the clinician on site (such as cuts and bruises to non-dangerous body areas), which saves the larger ambulances for other, more urgent jobs.

This can represent a resource saving on several levels, with most fly-cars costing much less than full size ambulances, and because they can often be staffed by a single person (ambulances require a minimum of two crew members: a driver and an attendant).

Fly-cars can also be used to speed response times. This especially applies in areas such as busy roads, where the smaller cars are able to move through traffic faster than a full size ambulance. Some fly-cars also have off-road capabilities, giving them access to areas that traditional ambulances cannot reach.

Other uses for fly cars include work as a "supervisor" vehicle where an officer or supervisor responds to various calls but does not ride on the ambulance to the hospital. This principle especially applies where the fly-car is crewed by a a paramedic, who can assist lower qualified staff, such as emergency medical technicians on an ambulance, meaning fewer people at the higher qualification level are required. However, dependent on the jurisdiction and needs of the individual service, any level of emergency medical provider from first responder to doctor can be found on fly-cars.

In some European countries like Germany or Austria with physician-led emergency services, there are Emergency Physician Rapid Response Cars (in German called NEF from NotarztEinsatzFahrzeug - Notarzt = Emergency Physician, Einsatz = Mission, Fahrzeug = Vehicle), staffed with at least an emergency physician and a paramedic.

Sweden
In the Swedish medical system, a fly-car (akutbil) can be equipped with a nurse specialized in anasthesia who is specialized in pain management, paired together with a paramedic. Fly-cars can be staffed around the clock or during the busiest hours of the day and week in order to augment the capacity of the prehospital care provider and can respond both independently and in conjunction with one or more ambulances, air ambulance(s) and other emergency services. As a result of new legislation requiring all ambulances to be equipped with at least one trained nurse, fly-cars have become less common.