Ambulance bus

A Japanese ambulance bus from the Tokyo Fire Department

An ambulance bus, medical ambulance bus, AmBus, AmbuBus^[1] or MAB^[2] is a type of ambulance used to transport and treat multiple patients who require ambulance level care. Ambulance buses have been used for a number of different purposes, including mass casualty incident response, disaster response, offering on-site triage, surge capacity, testing hospital preparedness,^[3] fire fighter rehabilitation, hospital evacuation, rest home evacuation, taking patients on routine journeys such as holidays for care dependent patients,^[4] or to deal with specific problems such as drunken patients in town centres.^[5][6]

Mass casualty use

Ambulance buses can be deployed to major incidents, where multiple patients are present or expected, and can be used in two main ways: The units can act in a stationary capacity as a casualty clearing station, field hospital or treatment center; alternatively, they can be used to transport multiple stretcher- or wheelchair-bound patients from scene to the next definitive point of care.^[7]

Medical Ambulance Buses (MABs) are designed from the ground up to handle the increased demands of multi-patient treatment and transportation. MABs provide a large number of stretchered patients^[8] with oxygen,^[9] a controlled climate and the electrical capacity to power essential medical equipment^[10]

In some cases, existing vehicles can be used for the mass casualty purpose through the use of conversion kits designed to be rapidly fitted when required, reducing the need to have expensive mass casualty vehicles on fleet. The AmbuBus Bus Stretcher Conversion Kit ^[11] gives first responders and municipalities the option of using a temporarily installed kit for on-demand response or a permanently installed for use in no-notice incidents.

Evacuation Use

In the event of a major disaster or evacuation, ambulance buses can be used to transport high volumes of non-ambulatory hospital and nursing home patients out of harm's way. Critical care transport and Advanced Life Support systems are integrated into each vehicle to accommodate the needs of patients requiring constant intensive care.^[8]

Patient holiday use

Some charities operate ambulance buses in a patient transport role specifically to allow stretcher bound patients to take excursions or holidays away from hospital, whilst still be able to benefit from a full care service from their healthcare escorts.^[4]

Quarantine and isolation buses

Some mass casualty buses are specially adapted to for CBRN incidents and can be used for quarantine or isolation of contaminated patients. These vehicles may have additional features such as a sealed bulkhead to separate the driver compartment from the patient compartment. The equivalent functionality of the ambulance buses may also be built into other vehicles such as lorries, trains or other large mass transit vehicles. These mass evacuation buses are well suited to being used for quarantine and containment.

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