Skoraya Pomosch: Emergency Medical Service of the Soviet Union

The Emergency Medical Service of the Soviet Union as witnessed in 1975 shows evidence of central communication, organization, and planning. The Skoraya Pomosch has developed into an elite medical corps with general multispecialty emergency teams that include well-trained physicians and physicians' assistants, with emphasis on bringing medical care to the patient at the site of the emergency. At its optimum, it is an elite corps that is uniformly available and capable of response to minor emergencies as well as major community disasters. Chronic problems of inadequate equipment and inappropriate use of the system continue to plague the Skoraya as they do other aspects of Soviet medicine. Certain qualities, such as the central communication network, are probably adaptable to the United States' situation, but in general, we must continue to improve and devise our own emergency medical system.