Making small talk with patients during long transfers

We regularly transport patients out of state, probably 120 miles away.
 
discharges? and are you near the state line?
 
I live in central Indiana, and I've transported patients to Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and recently to Florida (that was a fun trip). I have the gift of gab, as my coworkers say, and can talk to anyone about anything. I still base it on the patient. If they want to sleep, I'll work on paperwork; if they want to talk, I can definitely accomodate them.

-Kat
 
katgrl2003 said:
I live in central Indiana, and I've transported patients to Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and recently to Florida (that was a fun trip). I have the gift of gab, as my coworkers say, and can talk to anyone about anything. I still base it on the patient. If they want to sleep, I'll work on paperwork; if they want to talk, I can definitely accomodate them.

-Kat
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Just flip the words "Indiana" and "Michigan," and that's exactly how I feel about it too.
 
I don't do many transfers nowadays with the service I currently work for, but back when I worked at a hospital based service it wasn't unusual for me to end up with 2 or 3 transfers in a single 12 hour shift. More often than not, the patient would just rest for most of the 2 hour trips. I'm a very social person so I never had a problem holding a conversation during the whole trip for the ones that felt like talking.

I usually carried two bags with me into work. One was my personal bag with books, study material, laptop, etc... and another was a bookbag with various magazines, coloring books, plain paper and a clipboard, a few local and regional newspapers for that week, etc. I would keep that one on my ambulance during my shift . I would always offer the patient something to read or write on (Kids the coloring book) during the trip. I always received praises for offering those.
 
On a ride along not to long ago we had to transport a pt from a very rural hospital to one of our larger city's mental health facility. The pt was clearly suffering from bi-polar 2. Which made conversations with him very interesting, so when be became too involved in what he was talking about, the EMT and I would tag team. We found this was easy to do as his mood would reset every time he changed the person he was talking to.
 
stephenrb81 said:
I don't do many transfers nowadays with the service I currently work for, but back when I worked at a hospital based service it wasn't unusual for me to end up with 2 or 3 transfers in a single 12 hour shift. More often than not, the patient would just rest for most of the 2 hour trips. I'm a very social person so I never had a problem holding a conversation during the whole trip for the ones that felt like talking.

I usually carried two bags with me into work. One was my personal bag with books, study material, laptop, etc... and another was a bookbag with various magazines, coloring books, plain paper and a clipboard, a few local and regional newspapers for that week, etc. I would keep that one on my ambulance during my shift . I would always offer the patient something to read or write on (Kids the coloring book) during the trip. I always received praises for offering those.
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On longs transports, would you read books or do things on your laptop in between vitals checks? Obviously if something was wrong you wouldn't be doing that. But it seems if everything was going ok, it would pass the time good.
 
Small Talk Is Easy

make small talk and useally it evolves into long talks that you don't want to end. Don't try this with dead patients (personal experience Haha)
 
small talk i know i didnt read the question enough. OK just ask them what they like to do for fun where they work stuff like that
 
Yeah, our long transports are IFTs so pt is stable (usually anyways).

We don't have laptops but i'll read a book or magazine if I have one. Oftentimes just sitting back and enjoying the scenery going by is not a bad way to pass the time. Sometimes, I might play some music over the speakers in the back if the pt wants. If not, I might use an mp3 player with the volume way down and only in one ear but I usually have not used the mp3 player when I'm the only one in the back with the patient. Your sense of hearing is a very important tool to let you know that something is going wrong. Especially when you're in the captain's chair and can't see the pt!
 
WuLabsWuTecH said:
Yeah, our long transports are IFTs so pt is stable (usually anyways).

We don't have laptops but i'll read a book or magazine if I have one. Oftentimes just sitting back and enjoying the scenery going by is not a bad way to pass the time. Sometimes, I might play some music over the speakers in the back if the pt wants. If not, I might use an mp3 player with the volume way down and only in one ear but I usually have not used the mp3 player when I'm the only one in the back with the patient. Your sense of hearing is a very important tool to let you know that something is going wrong. Especially when you're in the captain's chair and can't see the pt!
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I think I am going to sit on the bench seat, I want to see my patients face and have a good view of the chest rise and fall. I know they are stable but anything can happen to them. I would hate to see that they stopped breathing because I couldn't see them from the captains chair. I know to check vitals every 15 min but still. Someone can start have problems in between those times.
 
rhan101277 said:
I think I am going to sit on the bench seat, I want to see my patients face and have a good view of the chest rise and fall. I know they are stable but anything can happen to them. I would hate to see that they stopped breathing because I couldn't see them from the captains chair. I know to check vitals every 15 min but still. Someone can start have problems in between those times.
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Captain's chair is usually the safest seat in the back. I always sit there on the longer transports. If you go back and read one of my earlier posts, I keep the pulse oximeter attached ans set alarm levels (usually 92-100). So if they stop breathing, my monitor (or pulseox if i'm in one of the rigs that doesn't have a monitor) will start yelling at me. Which is why I need to be able to hear!

Some people like to hook up the leads too, but I say there's nothing the heart monitor can tell me that I can't get from the pulseox!
 
I had a 14-hour transfer call the other day, it was brutal. Dude was not very talkative, and was thoroughly irritated that I kept taking vitals every 45 mins ("they already did this 3 times at the hospital today!").
 
jochi1543 said:
I had a 14-hour transfer call the other day, it was brutal. Dude was not very talkative, and was thoroughly irritated that I kept taking vitals every 45 mins ("they already did this 3 times at the hospital today!").
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Every 45? Our protocol has every 20 minutes at the very least!

Yeah, you know, its not like vital signs change every once in awhile...
 
Id crack those stupid jokes to get a smile on their face and then work it into a convo. thats if there is no language issues.
 
WuLabsWuTecH said:
Every 45? Our protocol has every 20 minutes at the very least!

Yeah, you know, its not like vital signs change every once in awhile...
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....and ours is 45....
 
I made small talk and found out they "knew" me from prior job/other state.

Small world out there!

Ice breakers:
"You come here often?".
"Got kids?".
"What color room do you want at the hospital?".

OK so much for the pediatric pt's....

One to avoid is "Holy C&#P, SHE"S ALIVE!?".
 
I'm never too worried about getting "too far into it" with someone. Mainly because i have to ask them questions that you normally wouldn't ask a stranger anyway. I start with not hows your day because the answer is usually a smart one. I go with what do you do for a living or have you heard this in the news and so on. general questions....unless shes attractive.:P
 
rhan101277 said:
I have a hard time talking to people that I don't know, because I don't know enough about them to start up a good conversation. I want to put the patient at ease. I have thought about asking stuff like how has your week been, etc. I just worry about getting to personal since I have a limited time with that person. Anyhow if anyone has any ideas as to how they do it, that would be great.
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Carry a bottle of diprivan with you. Than pull out your cell phone and talk to your friends.
 
I used to hate transfers and trying to make small-talk so much that I would inform the pt that it was perfectly okay with me if he/she took a nap and then retreat to the airway seat so that I didn't have to interact much, if any at all. I was a volunteer and usually the third on an ALS truck, so generally the medic did most of the talking/interacting.

Luckily I eventually started riding with a medic that wouldn't stand for that at all. He made me do my BLS skills, and he banned me from the airway seat so that I would be forced to learn to interact. When I went to medic class, this same guy was one of my preceptors and now that I am finally a medic I am forever greatful to him for forcing me outside of my comfort zone in the name of learning to be a better provider.

I try to apply the same rules for conversation as I would in the workplace. Anything goes as far as weather, sports, current events, even family and hobbies, etc. I do, however, try to avoid religion and politics.

Little ones (younger than 5 or so) I usually make a glove puppet or two (if time and pt condition allow) or try to find a stuffed animal of some sort to entertain them with. Young school-age kids usually like to learn about the ambulance and ask questions. I have found this to be a good time for discussions on fire safety, 911 use, etc. Might go something like, "Have you ever been on an ambulance before? How about a fire truck? Do you know when to call the ambulance/fire truck? How would you do that?" Older kids are tough but they can be entertained too...I usually hand over my cell phone or PDA for the duration of the transfer (if it's okay w/ mom or dad).
 
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