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From defibrillator to monitor and medication
The ambulance is a small mobile treatment room. You must know your equipment so well that you can use it without thinking – because when it matters, there is no time to search for buttons or read a manual.
You use a monitor that measures vital signs: heart rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, and pulse. These readings tell you how the patient is doing and whether treatment is working. Being able to read and understand them is a core competence.
Ensuring the patient's breathing is one of the most important things you do. You work with oxygen, mask and equipment to keep airways open. A patient cannot wait for other treatment if they cannot breathe.
For cardiac arrest the defibrillator and chest massage are crucial. Quick and correct resuscitation can be the difference between life and death. Therefore ambulance personnel train resuscitation again and again so it becomes completely ingrained.
You administer medicine according to current treatment guidelines and within your competencies. Each time you must be sure of what you are giving, how much, and to whom. Finally, you document the process, so the hospital and your own organization have the full picture.