How do you make up your cot?

[JPINFV]

wow, are you really a 12 year old girl? because that would explain sooo much

...or it's mockery.

oh wait, let me ask this: have you ever had a stretcher stolen? ever had it roll down the street? or equipment stolen from your truck? I have. how about had the entire truck stolen while you were inside on a job? that didn't happen to me, but it did happen to a coworker of mine.

I can say that I've never had a gurney roll down the street or have one stolen. I understand how to put it into a position to prevent the first and I don't work in a ghetto like the second.

Let me ask you think, if you bring the cot to the front door, how are you getting the patient out? bedrooms are typically upstairs, you going to bring the cot upstairs?

I can bring a stair chair almost anywhere. it goes with me. i can carry a sick patient to the back of the truck if I need to, from almost any location. i can't always bring the cot to the patient.

...because I'm limited to either removing the gurney or removing the stair chair/scoop? I can't stair chair or scoop the patient down the stairs to the waiting gurney?

Maybe it's time you learn a better way to do things? I know I did, and that's why I operate the way I do.

Hey, I'm not the one going, "OMG, I like so can't believe this conversation has lasted this long because I'm like super awesome and am always right, and everyone else is totally super-duper wrong."

On the other hand, have you looked in a mirror recently?

 

[VCEMT]

Freshly made gurney (sorry for my finger haha).

Gurney ready for next call.

You secure the monitor on the gurney? Why not the jumpseat, like in the flashcards?

 

[abckidsmom]

wow, are you really a 12 year old girl? because that would explain sooo much

oh wait, let me ask this: have you ever had a stretcher stolen? ever had it roll down the street? or equipment stolen from your truck? I have. how about had the entire truck stolen while you were inside on a job? that didn't happen to me, but it did happen to a coworker of mine.

Let me ask you think, if you bring the cot to the front door, how are you getting the patient out? bedrooms are typically upstairs, you going to bring the cot upstairs?

I can bring a stair chair almost anywhere. it goes with me. i can carry a sick patient to the back of the truck if I need to, from almost any location. i can't always bring the cot to the patient.

Maybe it's time you learn a better way to do things? I know I did, and that's why I operate the way I do.

Us rural hicks have grown accustomed to working with two and only two on the scene. We have learned that to save time and trips across the yard to the truck, we bring the cot, loaded with the bag and oxygen, to the door. We enter the house ready to do our work, and with the assumption that the people called the ambulance because they do, in fact, want us to drive them somewhere.

I can carry anyone out from anywhere too, and I'm happy to serve people who wouldn't dream of stealing my ambulance, or my cot, or a bandaid from my bag.

I've worked in an urban system too, and I have those skills, but let me tell you that I have seen plenty of excellent urban medics not be able to handle the job out here in the sticks. There is NO Only Right Way. Not even a Better Way that applies in all circumstances.

If we made a big todo about checking to make sure that the truck was locked in the yard of a farmhouse a half mile off the road, the people would wonder what was wrong with us.

Don't go judging people who don't do it your way. There are many ways to acceptably get the job done out there. Of course there are a few deal breakers, but for the most part you just have to let people be and do stuff their own way. Ya never know, you might just learn something...I know I did when I stepped down off my high horse.

 

[usalsfyre]

Funny, I've worked suburban, urban, rural, CCT, flight, career, volunteer, fire based, hospital based and private and can honestly say I've always brought the stretcher in...

Guess I need to learn how to do my job better.

 

[bigbaldguy]

We've left our stretcher out front of some sketchy buildings and it's never walked off. I like taking everything in that we might need. We just have those blue plasticized sheets. Then put monitor and bag on top with o2 strapped to bottom. If nothing else by bringing the cot with you to the door or bottom of stairs it saves a few minutes of running back to the truck if you need it.

We also keep a couple of cotton sheets a gown and maybe a towel under the head of stretcher.

 

[Aidey]

We don't always pull the gurney our of the amb, but that is only in special cases. Mostly, if the outside of the house is trashed or there is no easy access to the door we will leave it and ask if there is a different door we can get to, or if the pt is ambulatory. If the weather is really nasty we will leave it some times too. I've never heard of a gurney disappearing from outside a call.

 

[DesertMedic66]

You secure the monitor on the gurney? Why not the jumpseat, like in the flashcards?

Jumpseat = having to get in the ambulance and move the monitor to the gurney. Also if we have a student then they are in the jump seat.

Monitor strapped down to the gurney along with all the gear = get on scene, open up the rear doors, pop out the gurney and you are all good to go.

We like to make patient contact quickly so we can cancel fire.

EDIT: what flash cards?

 

[abckidsmom]

We don't always pull the gurney our of the amb, but that is only in special cases. Mostly, if the outside of the house is trashed or there is no easy access to the door we will leave it and ask if there is a different door we can get to, or if the pt is ambulatory. If the weather is really nasty we will leave it some times too. I've never heard of a gurney disappearing from outside a call.

Bad weather is the only time I wait until we have made a transport decision to bring the cot out. That means actual precipitation, or wind bad enough to mess up the sheets.

 

[Tigger]

In my experience, suburbanites do this all the time, as well as most volunteers. It's a bad habit, and many urban personnel have learned a better way. We bring it with us on calls at apartment buildings with elevators, large commercial occupancies (large stores, malls, etc), or healthcare facilities. But for a 1 or 2 or 3 family home, or any multi story without an elevator, the cot stays in the truck. The stairchair comes in, but the cot stays in the locked ambulance (unless the call is for an unconcious, than the cot stays at the front door, and the reeves get brought in, and we hope/pray no one steals/moves the cot).

Never had any problem leaving the stretcher outside a walkup. We leave it outside at a transfer height so we can get patient transferred over quickly from the stairchair and loaded into the truck. Funnily enough Boston EMS does the same thing, but they're not urban professionals and full of bad habits so I should probably stop.

Not to mention that it is quite a chore getting the stairchair out with the stretcher loaded. I also do plenty of dialysis runs into crap neighborhoods, when we do carryups we always leave the stretcher out since we need to make it up anyway and one person needs to stay with patient.

I can't believe this thread has gone 4 pages....

Why not? This job is full little things that make it easier, this is the kind of thread that gets those ideas some light.

 

[Aidey]

We have some streets where the houses are built into a hill, and have 10-20 steps up to the front door. Often there is back alley access, but usually the alley is accessed off the street 3 blocks away, down one alley, and back up another. Those are the type we leave the gurney on, since we know we will probably be moving the amb once we talk to the family.

I forgot, we also leave the gurney on cardiac arrests unless they are in a facility. We generally don't transport without ROSC, so most of those calls aren't transports.

 

[DrParasite]

I can say that I've never had a gurney roll down the street or have one stolen. I understand how to put it into a position to prevent the first and I don't work in a ghetto like the second.

I think everyone should work in a ghetto at least once in their career. it can be an eye opening experience (not good or bad, just eye opening). But you don't, so you have no idea what I'm talking about.

...because I'm limited to either removing the gurney or removing the stair chair/scoop? I can't stair chair or scoop the patient down the stairs to the waiting gurney?

well, If i'm carrying someone down the stairs, there is no way i am using the scoop. Reeves, Reeves Sleeve, or back board if I have to, but not the scoop. You aren't wrong, I just would never do it, because I feel the other ways are much more secure. But that's just my 0.02

Hey, I'm not the one going, "OMG, I like so can't believe this conversation has lasted this long because I'm like super awesome and am always right, and everyone else is totally super-duper wrong."

that was because there are 4 pages of how you make up a cot, while my question about CHF and intubation only had 8 replies..... nothing to do with right or wrong.

On the other hand, have you looked in a mirror recently?

I have, and a very handsome man looked back at me.

Us rural hicks have grown accustomed to working with two and only two on the scene. We have learned that to save time and trips across the yard to the truck, we bring the cot, loaded with the bag and oxygen, to the door. We enter the house ready to do our work, and with the assumption that the people called the ambulance because they do, in fact, want us to drive them somewhere.

do you have multistory houses? I haven't worked in the sticks, maybe it's all ranches. most of suburban area was 2 story hourses. with the equipment you listed, cot, bag, and oxygen, which is what you bring to the door, how do you get them downstairs, especially without making another trip to the truck?

I can carry anyone out from anywhere too, and I'm happy to serve people who wouldn't dream of stealing my ambulance, or my cot, or a bandaid from my bag.

yeah, I guess my coverage area's locals aren't as nice as yours.

If we made a big todo about checking to make sure that the truck was locked in the yard of a farmhouse a half mile off the road, the people would wonder what was wrong with us.

again, your locals are nicer than mine. There are articles on the web about ambulances being broken into for narcs, as well as equipment being stolen. A buddy of mine had the truck's GPS stolen from truck while he was on a call. Different areas I guess.

 

[abckidsmom]

I think everyone should work in a ghetto at least once in their career. it can be an eye opening experience (not good or bad, just eye opening). But you don't, so you have no idea what I'm talking about.
well, If i'm carrying someone down the stairs, there is no way i am using the scoop. Reeves, Reeves Sleeve, or back board if I have to, but not the scoop. You aren't wrong, I just would never do it, because I feel the other ways are much more secure. But that's just my 0.02that was because there are 4 pages of how you make up a cot, while my question about CHF and intubation only had 8 replies..... nothing to do with right or wrong.
I have, and a very handsome man looked back at me.

do you have multistory houses? I haven't worked in the sticks, maybe it's all ranches. most of suburban area was 2 story hourses. with the equipment you listed, cot, bag, and oxygen, which is what you bring to the door, how do you get them downstairs, especially without making another trip to the truck?
yeah, I guess my coverage area's locals aren't as nice as yours.again, your locals are nicer than mine. There are articles on the web about ambulances being broken into for narcs, as well as equipment being stolen. A buddy of mine had the truck's GPS stolen from truck while he was on a call. Different areas I guess.

I guess I just figure that if people are going to be dumb enough to steal the ambulance, I'm going to let them. If they are going to break into the ambulance to steal the narcs, they are usually bright enough to break out a window to get in just as well.

We have 2 story houses, but more often than not they can walk down or they have already come down. Our biggest stair issues are on the porches. Sometimes we need to get the stair chair or reeves, sometimes we just physically carry them, two-person style, to the stretcher. Not having daily experience with the stair chair makes it slower than if we did have that regular practice and muscle memory.

I never had a real problem with people stealing, but then our stuff wasn't really nice anyway, when I worked in the city. It was extremely functional, the best tool for the job, but it looked like it went on 10,000 calls a year.

 

[Aidey]

I don't know about Dana, but we generally ask them if they are able to walk. Very simple and doesn't require anyone to run and get anything.

 

[abckidsmom]

I don't know about Dana, but we generally ask them if they are able to walk. Very simple and doesn't require anyone to run and get anything.

I say "Can I help you walk out to the ambulance?" unless it's very clear that they shouldn't be or can't be walking.

 

[DesertMedic66]

I think everyone should work in a ghetto at least once in their career. it can be an eye opening experience (not good or bad, just eye opening). But you don't, so you have no idea what I'm talking about.
well, If i'm carrying someone down the stairs, there is no way i am using the scoop. Reeves, Reeves Sleeve, or back board if I have to, but not the scoop. You aren't wrong, I just would never do it, because I feel the other ways are much more secure. But that's just my 0.02that was because there are 4 pages of how you make up a cot, while my question about CHF and intubation only had 8 replies..... nothing to do with right or wrong.
I have, and a very handsome man looked back at me.

do you have multistory houses? I haven't worked in the sticks, maybe it's all ranches. most of suburban area was 2 story hourses. with the equipment you listed, cot, bag, and oxygen, which is what you bring to the door, how do you get them downstairs, especially without making another trip to the truck?
yeah, I guess my coverage area's locals aren't as nice as yours.again, your locals are nicer than mine. There are articles on the web about ambulances being broken into for narcs, as well as equipment being stolen. A buddy of mine had the truck's GPS stolen from truck while he was on a call. Different areas I guess.

We have a lot of multistory houses and some of our response areas are the ghettos (there will be drug deals going on across the street literally). Gurney goes to the front door of all houses. If gurney can fit inside the house then it goes in if it can't then it stays outside. Most patients are able to walk down stairs with a little bit of help (ABCs Ambulate Before Carrying) making it a lot easier for us. If not its normally quicker to just carry them down.

I have never seen a crew bring in only the stairchair and leave the gurney in the ambulance.

 

[truetiger]

We usually take the dispatch info into account before we start packing in equipment or the cot. Nursing home call? Yup, cots going in no question. Sick case? Cot is probably staying in until we go in and determine its necessary.

 

[Bullets]

well, If i'm carrying someone down the stairs, there is no way i am using the scoop. Reeves, Reeves Sleeve, or back board if I have to, but not the scoop. You aren't wrong, I just would never do it, because I feel the other ways are much more secure.

If you feel the scoop is not as secure as a LBB, you are using the scoop wrong. The scoop curves at the bottom, so the feet can rest on the bar and prevent the patient from sliding down like on a backboard.

In suburban NJ, i tend to take the cot in to dialysis, SNFs, Apartments with elevators. SRO "hotels" and homes get a stairchair unless its a unconscious, OD, or something similar. Falls and CPRs get a LBB unless our disatchers do a great job and let us know its a leg, hip, or lower body injury, then the scoop

Times are tough, and ive had the wheels stolen off the cot because they had copper in them and we left it at the door. I dont leave the stretcher out anymore. Ive had another end up in a pawn shop, thankfully the patient was able to sit on the bench.

A gurney is the thing i put the patient on at the hospital
A stretcher it the thing in my ambulance
A litter is the thing that has two poles with canvas between and folds
A cot is the thing i sleep on

 

[VCEMT]

Jumpseat = having to get in the ambulance and move the monitor to the gurney. Also if we have a student then they are in the jump seat.

Monitor strapped down to the gurney along with all the gear = get on scene, open up the rear doors, pop out the gurney and you are all good to go.

We like to make patient contact quickly so we can cancel fire.

EDIT: what flash cards?

Yes, that is the standard... I just don't care to secure it.

You work for AMR, no?

You never look at the safety crap they plaster everywhere?

 

[DrParasite]

If you feel the scoop is not as secure as a LBB, you are using the scoop wrong. The scoop curves at the bottom, so the feet can rest on the bar and prevent the patient from sliding down like on a backboard.

I should have been clearer. The only time I use a LBB to carry is if I am using it for spinal precautions, and then they are very well secured to the board (6 cravats is not uncommon for me to use depending on the distance we are carrying). Reeves sleeve is even better if the agency has the money for them (only one that I have worked as had them, and they were awesome when needed), but my primary carrying down the stairs device for people who can't sit up is the Reeves.

and yes, if they can walk, and there is no medical reason why they shouldn't, they do. But in my experience (since it's not universal everywhere, so I won't assume), people who are really sick and need help are unable to ambulate.

 

[DesertMedic66]

Yes, that is the standard... I just don't care to secure it.

You work for AMR, no?

You never look at the safety crap they plaster everywhere?

Nope. I clock in then go to my rig haha