Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke's University Health Network has created a "mini-ER on wheels" that adds physicians to the EMS response team, Lehigh Valley News reported July 22.
The SUV is mostly equipped with what physicians would need for injury or illness outside a hospital setting. First responders can request an EMS physician to respond to the needs of patients with severe trauma or illness.
"By bringing a physician out of the hospital to the site of injury or illness, we have the ability to offer pretty much every service that would happen in the hospital at the bedside, that we would not necessarily be able to offer with a 911 ambulance," Bryan Wilson, MD, EMS Fellowship Director at St. Luke's, told the news outlet.
Physicians also join EMS teams to offer stand-by care at large gatherings and festivals so paramedics do not have to call hospitals to make advanced-level decisions.
The physician vehicle does not transport patients, but the physician can ride with the patient to the hospital if needed. The mini-ER is a collaboration between St. Luke's Emergency Medicine Department and Northampton County.