Patients in the rain

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ryan2289

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Dunno if this is the right location. But im rather new to transporting. I also got partnered up with a new guy that has never done ems at all before.

So when you get patients in the rain. For an ift call. How do you keep them from getting soaked on your way in n out of a facility? Our hospital gets pretty backed up and we have to park a good distance sometimes.

I asked the supervisor and he told me we have rain blankets but failed to explain how or when we really use them.
 
ryan2289 said:
I asked the supervisor and he told me we have rain blankets but failed to explain how or when we really use them.
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Pretty sure you answered your own question. Seems pretty self explanatory to me, use the rain blanket when its raining and cover the pt with said blanket.

Out where I'm at we hardly get rain, but we keep wool blankets stocked in the ambulance. When it rains out here I just cover the pt in one of those, works quite well.
 
CALEMT said:
Pretty sure you answered your own question. Seems pretty self explanatory to me, use the rain blanket when its raining and cover the pt with said blanket.

Out where I'm at we hardly get rain, but we keep wool blankets stocked in the ambulance. When it rains out here I just cover the pt in one of those, works quite well.
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I guess i had the question more elborate in my head.

Where in cali are you?

We have foam blankets but i was more wondering if you cover their face or not. Do you only do it if they can tolerate it? Do you not do it at all. Obviously you dont want them to suffocate or feel costar phobic but you dont want them to drown on water or get wet hair depending on certain conditions.
 
ryan2289 said:
I guess i had the question more elborate in my head.

Where in cali are you?

We have foam blankets but i was more wondering if you cover their face or not. Do you only do it if they can tolerate it? Do you not do it at all. Obviously you dont want them to suffocate or feel costar phobic but you dont want them to drown on water or get wet hair depending on certain conditions.
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Southern... in the "delightful" desert. No I would not cover their face, unless it was absolute biblical rain or hail.
 
My old IFT boss told me a story once. Female elderly Pt in the box headed to facility non-emergent, daughter following behind in car. It was pouring by the time they got to the facility. To keep the Pt dry he covered her with a yellow, now multipurpose sheet, face and all, with consent of course. He and his partner pulled the stretcher and started walking towards the entrance. The daughter runs up screaming, thinking mom is dead. The EMT swears he heard snickering under the sheet. He insisted she was fine and just covered from the rain. The daughter is near tears. He even pulled the cover off her face, but the mom played dead. The daughter was about to burst when the Pt flung herself up screaming of laughter. The daughter stormed inside.

Moral: Be creative.
 
Mega mover tarp for me. Some of my partners bring umbrellas. When it rains here, it's a monsoon.
 
The trend here is to use a sheet to shield from the rain and cover the patient's head with a towel.

I think I would prefer to bring an umbrella.
 
Disposable blankets or some gurney sheets we have. They have a plastic coating on one side that just beads the water off.
 
I let the rain wash off sin and dispair.
 
Yellow disposable blanket and towels, problem solved.
 
What is a term for less than critical thinking? Common sense?

Well, common sense fail.
 
Walk fast

Plus its probably the only time some of your patients are going to be getting a bath in the near future, especially is they are at an SNF or an urban outdoorsman
 
Sit them upright if they can tolerate it with a towel around over their head as a hood. I've done the coverup with a sheet/blanket before and if someone thinks we have a corpse on the stretcher, then oh well.

Do NOT cover someone's face with a clipboard as I've heard multiple people give as advice elsewhere. That's just asking to nail someone in the face when it slips or bounces wrong. Both hands on the stretcher if it's wet out.
 
Well if it's raining hard enough/you have a far enough ways to go outside in the rain to get to the ambulance, and a regular gurney sheet/blanket/towel isn't going to cut it, cover them with a rain blanket and have someone hold one over their head as a makeshift umbrella if you don't have something purpose dedicated (like an actual umbrella). It really is just common sense, "What can I do with the tools that I have in the conditions that I'm in right here and now?" Otherwise, yeah, it is a common sense fail if some rain stumps you....
 
ryan2289 said:
Sounds like a typical medic response
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In all reality man its a pretty self explanatory question and boils down to common sense. When and how do I use a rain blanket is like asking how do I get dressed in the morning? Do I put my right leg in my pants first or my left leg? It doesn't matter as long as the job gets done. Improvise and adapt. So yeah a common sense fail.
 
ryan2289 said:
Sounds like a typical medic response
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Sounds like a typical whiney EMT response when they get told something they don't want to hear, and/or told something that isn't sugar coated.

See? I can play this game too.

Now let's say we all act like self-sufficient, independant, mature adults for a bit, how's that sound?
 
triemal04 said:
Sounds like a typical whiney EMT response when they get told something they don't want to hear, and/or told something that isn't sugar coated.

See? I can play this game too.

Now let's say we all act like self-sufficient, independant, mature adults for a bit, how's that sound?
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My response had no whining at all in it.....just shows how much medics feel above emts.

Obviously dont realise they were a new emt at one time and probaly asked questions others thought were stupid.

Hopefully one day you can get over yourself.

To everyone else. Thank you for the common sense answers.
 
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