Ride quality evaluation of an actively-controlled stretcher for an ambulance.

This study considers the subjective evaluation of ride quality during ambulance transportation using an actively-controlled stretcher (ACS). The ride quality of a conventional stretcher and an assistant driver's seat is also compared. Braking during ambulance transportation generates negative foot-to-head acceleration in patients and causes blood pressure to rise in the patient's head. The ACS absorbs the foot-to-head acceleration by changing the angle of the stretcher, thus reducing the blood pressure variation. However, the ride quality of the ACS should be investigated further because the movement of the ACS may cause motion sickness and nausea. Experiments of ambulance transportation, including rapid acceleration and deceleration, are performed to evaluate the effect of differences in posture of the transported subject on the ride quality; the semantic differential method and factor analysis are used in the investigations. Subjects are transported using a conventional stretcher with head forward, a conventional stretcher with head backward, the ACS, and an assistant driver's seat for comparison with transportation using a stretcher. Experimental results show that the ACS gives the most comfortable transportation when using a stretcher. Moreover, the reduction of the negative foot-to-head acceleration at frequencies below 0.2 Hz and the small variation of the foot-to-head acceleration result in more comfortable transportation. Conventional transportation with the head forward causes the worst transportation, although the characteristics of the vibration of the conventional stretcher seem to be superior to that of the ACS.