Stretcher

Stretchers are primarily used in acute out-of-hospital care situations by emergency medical services (EMS), military, and search and rescue personnel.

An integral lug on the stretcher locks into a sprung latch within the ambulance in order to prevent movement during transport.

This eases the workload on EMS personnel, who are statistically at high risk of back injury from repetitive raising and lowering of patients.

Specialized bariatric stretchers are also available, which feature a wider frame and higher weight capacity for heavier patients.

Normally, an integral lug on the stretcher locks into a sprung latch within the ambulance in order to prevent movement during transport, often referred to as antlers due to their shape.

Its key value is to facilitate moving the patient and sheet onto a fixed bed or table on arrival at the emergency department.

EMTs using a stretcher in 2001.
Armed escort carries the wounded to the Senegalese border, Guinea-Bissau, 1974.
Illustration of chair stretcher, "On the Transport of sick and wounded troops", 1868.
A wounded knight is carried on a medieval stretcher.
A simple stretcher used by U.S. Marines in a training environment in December 2003.
U.S. Marines transport a non-ambulatory patient , outside of Fallujah , Iraq in 2006
Scoop stretcher