The concept of the modern prehospital care system for
trauma patients goes back to the introduction of the
“flying ambulances” by Napoleon’s private surgeon,
Dominique-Jean Larrey, in 1792. The “fl ying ambulances”
were horse drawn carriages, bringing physicians or
medical supplies to the battlefield and transporting
wounded soldiers away from the front line. All modern
EMS systems still follow this early idea of either bringing
the physician to the patient or bringing the patient to the
physician.