A joint committee, made up of several US professional organizations in surgery, trauma, and emergency medicine, updated their recommendations for equipment in ambulances in 2009. Equipment recommendations may vary depending on the certification levels of the providers, population densities, geographic, and economic conditions of the region. They divide equipment into basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ALS). ALS ambulances must have all equipment on the BLS list in addition to the ALS requirements. BLS is subdivided into ventilation and airway equipment, monitoring and defibrillation, immobilization devices, bandages,
