Physician response vehicles

Five physician response vehicles, manned by an emergency physician and paramedic make up the spearhead of the emergency medical services in pre-hospital work by the Capital Region of Denmark. The physician response vehicles provide advanced medical treatment, providing support to the region's ambulance services.

Physician response vehicles provide 24-hour pre-hospital emergency medical services
The region's physician response vehicles are the most advanced part of the pre-hospitalization​ emergency medical services and provide support to the ambulance services, as well as advanced treatment by physicians outside the hospital of acute, life-threatening conditions.

The physician response vehicles are operated by Pre-Hospital Services.
Pre-Hospital Services owns and runs the capital region's physician response vehicles. There are five physician response vehicles in total, three of which provide 24-hour services.

When is a physician response vehicle dispatched?
The physician response vehicles are dispatched to patients with acute, life-threatening conditions which call for early, advance treatment and medical assessment. This includes conditions such as:  heart failure, acute heart disease, severe and life-threatening injuries from traffic accidents etc., and acute loss of consciousness.

Location
All physician response vehicles can be used for assignments throughout the region, however, the individual physician response vehicle has a permanent home base from where it is dispatched:

  • Two physician response vehicles are based at Copenhagen Central Fire Station and primarily cover the geographical dispatch area "the city".
  • One physician response vehicle is based at Hvidovre Hospital and primarily covers the geographical dispatch area "south".
  • One physician response vehicle is based at Herlev Hospital and primarily covers the geographical dispatch area "mid". 
  • One physician response vehicle is based at Hillerød Hospital and primarily covers the geographical dispatch area "north".

Staff
The physician response vehicles are manned by medical specialists in anesthesiology and an experienced paramedic. The physicians have substantial experience in assessing and treating critically ill patients and work in the acute area (emergency medical services) at one of the region's hospitals.

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