# So what do you call it?



## mikie (Jan 8, 2011)

Just seeing the stats on our usage of the synonymous terms for a stretcher...


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## lightsandsirens5 (Jan 8, 2011)

Its a Gurney. 

Not a cot. That is something soldiers sleep on in camp. 

Not a bed. Yea....just not. Way to many differences to name. 

Not a stretcher. That has four handles, no legs or wheels and can fold up very small.


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## usafmedic45 (Jan 8, 2011)

> Not a stretcher. That has four handles, no legs or wheels and can fold up very small



Actually, that's technically a litter if you want to use the actual military term.  BTW, there have been wheel attachements for those for quite some time.

http://med-dept.com/litters.php


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## TransportJockey (Jan 8, 2011)

I"ve always called it a cot. Annoyed the crap out of me when I worked in Denver that they called it a 'pram'


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## MrBrown (Jan 8, 2011)

Stretcher or bed


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## HotelCo (Jan 8, 2011)

It's a stretcher.

.


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## Aidey (Jan 8, 2011)

Depends. It is usually the gurney, sometimes it is the stretcher, and if I'm trying to get some old hard of hearing patient to sit on it properly, or it is a little kid, it is the bed.


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## abckidsmom (Jan 8, 2011)

jtpaintball70 said:


> I"ve always called it a cot. Annoyed the crap out of me when I worked in Denver that they called it a 'pram'



That sounds like high effort.  Honestly, "rig" and "bus" annoy me.

I say cot or stretcher about 50/50.


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## TransportJockey (Jan 8, 2011)

abckidsmom said:


> That sounds like high effort.  Honestly, "rig" and "bus" annoy me.
> 
> I say cot or stretcher about 50/50.


Heh I tend to call the truck a rig or bus on a regular basis. But again, in Denver they called the ambulance a 'car'... Oh well, the scenery is worth going back to eventually


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## emt_irl (Jan 8, 2011)

generally a stretcher


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## Veneficus (Jan 8, 2011)

I have no preference, I try to adapt to the local lingo when speaking about stuff.

My first job in private ambulance was an eye opener when nobody knew what I was talking about when I refered to the ambulance as a "squad."

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.


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## abckidsmom (Jan 8, 2011)

Veneficus said:


> I have no preference, I try to adapt to the local lingo when speaking about stuff.
> 
> My first job in private ambulance was an eye opener when nobody knew what I was talking about when I refered to the ambulance as a "squad."
> 
> When in Rome, do as the Romans do.



Around here, we say "truck."  

After 15 years here and there in municpal EMS-only departments, my husband started in a fire department.  Over there, a truck has a ladder, an engine has a pump, and that vehicle with the bed in the back is a MEDIC, unless it's staffed with a BLS provider, in which case it's an ambulance.

Crazy what 50 miles and a whole different attitude will get for ya.

What annoys me about the "rig" and "bus" stuff is when people do it here, where people just don't say that.  If you come from somewhere where that's what they say, I give you a pass, but if you started here and spent all your career in this area, don't try and be all exotic.  lol.  

Like what I think matters, anyway!


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## NomadicMedic (Jan 8, 2011)

Yeah, it all depends on where you're from.

I call it it a stretcher or "the bed". One partner calls it a gurney (he's from California) somebody else here calls it a cot. 

My girlfriend is a fire medic and at her place they refer to it as "the wheels". 
As in, "Hey guys, go get my wheels."

I call the ambulance "the truck". At another service where I work, they are called "cars". At my fire job it's either a medic unit (ALS) or Aid Car (BLS).


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## 94H (Jan 8, 2011)

Litter

pretty sure thats what it says on our check sheets also


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## LuvGlock (Jan 8, 2011)

FWIW, on their website, Stryker calls the things in hospitals and ORs "stretchers" and the things in the back of ambulances "cots".


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## mycrofft (Jan 8, 2011)

*"What do you call a stretcher"? A stretcher.*

STRETCHER: a folding canvas litter with a bar or other device to stretch it open laterally; otherwise, the longitudinal handles will meet over the patient when lifted.






LITTER: device to bear a patient from here to there, foldable.





GURNEY: a specific, non-folding patient table with wheels. 




COT: a small provisional bed, usually folding.






They call them "cots" because it implies comfort, but the devices to carry the patient to the ambo, clips in, scissor-folds up and down are actually "ambulance litters".


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## Sassafras (Jan 8, 2011)

We call them litters and the vehicles rig normally. Truck second most common and bus for when we are being silly.


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## ZombieEMT (Jan 8, 2011)

Generally we call it a stretcher, not often does someone refer to it as something different. We typically call our ambulance, an ambulance and that is how our county requires us to recognize ourselves on the radio. It as against protocol in our agency to refer to a ambulance as a bus, because a bus can be used as an actual resource, but it does commonly get called a truck or rig.


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## Sasha (Jan 8, 2011)

Mr.Brown has already spoken. And he knows everything. It's a stretcher.


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## Pseudonymous (Jan 9, 2011)

Most people in my area call it a "Litter". And they call the ambulance a "Rig". I'm the only one who calls them a stretcher, and an ambulance.


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## NomadicMedic (Jan 9, 2011)

Sasha said:


> Mr.Brown has already spoken. And he knows everything. It's a stretcher.



Just ask him. He'll tell you.


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## socalmedic (Jan 9, 2011)

gurney, wheels, or big yellow. the rig, well its the rig. on the radio it is a medic (als) or ambulance (bls).


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## Seaglass (Jan 12, 2011)

I'll use whatever my coworkers use. That means it's a cot for now. An ambulance is either an ambulance or a medic unit, depending on staffing. 



Veneficus said:


> My first job in private ambulance was an eye opener when nobody knew what I was talking about when I refered to the ambulance as a "squad."



Here, a squad is a heavy rescue.


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## NREMTroe (Jan 12, 2011)

Here in Northern Arkansas, we call the patient transport device a 'stretcher' and the ambulance is refered to as the 'truck'


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## dixie_flatline (Jan 12, 2011)

The unit itself (in descending order of use):

Ambo
Amba-lance
Rig
Truck (yes, the fire-side people will scowl if you call anything a truck. then again, we don't run a ladder truck, we have a rescue squad which is The Squad, so no one has ever even thought to call an ambulance that)
Box
Bus
(on the radio it is either Medic/Ambulance for ALS/BLS)

The thing in the back (same order):

Stretcher
Cot
Bed
Gurney

I kind of like Wheels, but I've never heard that here.


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## Shishkabob (Jan 12, 2011)

Cot or stretcher, depending on which word pops in my head first.

I tend to write cot on my PCR, but say stretcher to patients.  Don't know why.


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