Prehospital Emergency Medicine and Intensive Therapy in the USSR

Extract

Prehospital emergency medicine in the USSR is one of the most widespread aspects of our medical system. The structure is extremely simple. The country is divided into regions, which in turn are divided into districts. Each district has a definite population and a fixed number of physicians, hospital beds and stations for first aid and urgent care. The system has to provide adequate medical attention without delay for every severely ill or injured patient.

In the prehospital emergency system, there are standard and specialized intensive therapy teams and equipment. For all emergency calls we have teams, which include a physician, a medical assistant (feldsher) and attendants. Specialized intensive therapy teams usually include two physicians, two feldshers and laboratory assistants.