Home · What to do
What to do before the ambulance arrives
Short instructions written by emergency doctors: what to do in the first minutes, what to avoid, and when to call. 46 guides in English.
Stroke: how to recognise it and what to doA stroke destroys about two million brain cells per minute. Clot-dissolving treatment works only within 4.5 hours of the first sym…
Heart attack: how to recognise it and what to doChest pain that lasts longer than 15–20 minutes and does not change with breathing or position is treated as a heart attack until …
High blood pressure: what to do and when to callBlood pressure of 180/110 is not itself an emergency — it becomes one when it damages an organ: chest pain, weakness on one side, …
Fever in a child: what to do and when to callFever itself is not the enemy — it is how the body fights infection. What matters is not the number on the thermometer but how the…
How to call an ambulance and what to sayThe words you use decide how fast help arrives: the dispatcher classifies the call by symptoms, not by how worried you sound. Say …
Poisoning: what to do at home and when to callMost food poisoning resolves in a day or two on water and rest. The danger is not the vomiting itself but the dehydration it cause…
Seizures: what to do if someone is convulsingA seizure looks terrifying but usually stops on its own within two or three minutes. Your job is not to stop it — nothing can — bu…
Panic attack or heart attack: how to tellA panic attack feels exactly like dying: racing heart, chest tightness, shortness of breath, tingling hands. The catch is that a h…
Angioedema and anaphylaxis: the first minutesSwelling of the lips and eyelids is unpleasant; swelling of the tongue and throat is lethal within minutes. Anaphylaxis is the who…
Hip fracture in an elderly person: what to doA hip fracture after 70 is not a broken bone but a life event: without surgery within the first two days, mortality within a year …
An elderly person has fallen and cannot get upA fall after 70 is rarely "just a fall": in a third of cases there is a fracture, and sometimes the cause was a stroke or an arrhy…
The ambulance is not coming: what to doThe state service splits calls into emergency and non-urgent. Emergency means a threat to life, with a 20-minute target. Non-urgen…
Hospital admission without a referral: how it worksThere are three ways into a Russian hospital: emergency through an ambulance, self-referral to the admissions department, and plan…
How to choose a hospital in MoscowIn an emergency the hospital is chosen by routing rules, not by the patient: stroke goes to a stroke centre, heart attack to a hos…
Hospital transfer: how to arrange and move the patientA transfer requires two agreements: the current hospital must let the patient go, and the receiving one must confirm a bed. Famili…
Taking a bedridden patient home: how to prepareAfter a stroke, a fracture or major surgery the patient comes home unable to walk, and the family has a day to turn a flat into a …
Caring for a bedridden patient: what matters mostThree enemies threaten a bedridden patient: bedsores, chest infection and dehydration. All three are prevented by simple actions e…
How much a private ambulance costs and what you pay forThe price of a private ambulance call is not one figure but four parts: the call-out, the procedures, the transport and, outside t…
Private or state ambulance: an honest comparisonThe state ambulance is free, obliged to come and permanently overloaded. A private one costs money but treats you as its only pati…
Tick bite: what to do and when to see a doctorThe Moscow region is not a hotspot for tick-borne encephalitis, but Lyme disease occurs here every season and ticks travel home fr…
Heat stroke and sunstroke: first aidHeat stroke is the point at which the body stops cooling itself: core temperature passes 39–40 °C, sweating stops and consciousnes…
Flu and colds: home treatment or a doctorA common cold resolves by itself within a week and needs no doctor. Flu is different: it begins abruptly with a temperature near 3…
Frostbite and hypothermia: what to do and what not toThe main mistake with frostbite is warming too fast: hot water, a radiator, rubbing. Frozen tissue must be warmed slowly, from the…
Burns: what to do and what never to doThe first twenty minutes decide whether a burn leaves a scar: cool running water stops the damage going deeper. Everything your gr…
Bleeding: how to stop it before the crew arrivesAlmost any external bleeding stops with direct pressure — a hand through a cloth, firmly, without letting go for ten minutes. A to…
Acute abdominal pain: appendicitis or notThe abdomen is the one place where a painkiller can cost a life: it masks the picture, and the surgeon sees a "quiet" abdomen when…
Acute urinary retention: what to doThe urge is there but nothing comes, and the pressure in the lower abdomen grows with every hour. This is acute urinary retention,…
Diabetes: low sugar, high sugar and comaIn a person with diabetes two opposite states look alike — shaking, confusion, strange behaviour — but need opposite treatment. Lo…
Shortness of breath: what to doSudden breathlessness can mean an asthma attack, pulmonary oedema, a clot in the lung or a panic attack. A pulse oximeter separate…
Transporting a patient to another city: how to organise itLong-distance transport is not a taxi with a stretcher but a medical operation lasting up to a day: assessment, the right crew, ag…
A bedridden patient on a plane or train: how it worksBeyond 2,000 kilometres the car gives way to the aircraft — but air transport of a bedridden passenger requires clearance from the…
Ambulance standby at an event: when it is requiredThe organiser of a mass event is responsible for medical cover — both under the Ministry of Health order on medical support at mas…
Pre-trip medical examinations: what the law requiresIf an organisation has drivers — company cars, delivery, taxis, buses, special machinery — pre-trip and post-trip examinations are…
ECG at home: when you need it and what it showsAn electrocardiogram is the only way to tell a heart attack from neuralgia, or an arrhythmia from anxiety, in five minutes. It doe…
IV drip at home: indications, contents, priceA drip is not "vitamins for energy" but a way to replace fluid and salts quickly and to give drugs when the oral route fails. It i…
Cancer patient at home: pain, vomiting, breathlessnessA cancer patient at home does not mean "nothing can be done" — it means a different task: not to cure, but to remove pain, nausea …
ICU ambulance: how it differs and when you need itAn ICU ambulance is not a bigger ambulance but a mobile intensive care unit: a transport ventilator, a monitor, a defibrillator, i…
Transport to CT, MRI and outpatient appointmentsA bedridden patient needs investigations more often than a mobile one and can reach them far less easily: the stairs, the journey,…
Ambulance for foreigners in Moscow: how it worksEmergency care in a life-threatening situation is free in Russia for everyone, including foreigners without insurance. Everything …
What to take to hospital: a checklistIn an emergency admission you have about ten minutes to pack while the crew completes the paperwork, and families usually fill a b…
Patient rights in hospital: what you can doA hospital is not a place where decisions are made for you: Russian health law gives the patient the right to know the diagnosis, …
Where stroke patients are taken in MoscowWith a stroke the hospital is chosen neither by the patient nor by the crew but by the routing system: the patient goes to the nea…
Ambulances for the elderly: common calls and preparationAfter 75 the ambulance is called not "when it hurts" but when "something is off": the parent became drowsy, stopped getting up, co…
Alcohol poisoning: what to do and when it is dangerousThe line between "had too much" and "poisoned" runs through consciousness: if the person can be woken and answers, it is intoxicat…
Ambulance standby on film sets and construction sitesOn a set with stunts and on a site with work at height, an ambulance crew is not a luxury but a condition of the insurance policy …
Alcohol withdrawal: how to stop safely and when to callComing off a long binge is more dangerous than the binge itself: on the second or third day without alcohol, seizures, delirium tr…
AYUMED LLC (ООО «АЮМЕД»), INN 9723216181, OGRN 1237700809719. Medical activity licence No. L041-01137-77/01120339 of 10.04.2024; licence for the circulation of narcotic and psychotropic substances No. L017-01137-77/01379764 of 09.09.2024, both issued by the Moscow Department of Health. There are contraindications; consult a specialist. Prices are shown for information and do not constitute a public offer. The Russian version of this website is the legally binding one.