Whats the last thing you stole from a hospital?

[harkj]

i dont know how it works were you all live but here in arkansas you have to take the sheets and towels from the hospital for the ambulance when you bring a pt in they take the sheet off your stretcher and you go and take a few sheets and towel to restock your ambulance... and in the winter time you get the nice blankets too!!!!!

 

[Akulahawk]

Most of the downtown hospitals in Sacramento do a linens exchange with the FD EMS units, the last time I checked. It works pretty well, actually. I wouldn't call it stealing though... because they encourage it...

 

[VentMedic]

Yes they can, that would be this line is about:
Which would actually be appropriate since they were giving away equipment they weren't supposed to and not getting reimbursed for. But then, it also is appropriate for them to give it to the medics since their service refuses to buy it on their own.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Either way could be seen as doing the right thing.

The hospitals and their staff should not be responsible for stocking your ambulance company with supplies YOU think you need. This should be addressed to the ambulance company by you if there is something the ambulance company is not supplying you.

Sheet and towel exchanges are at a different level. However, many hospitals have had to stop that due to abuse of a good thing.

Also, much stuff taken from a hospital often does not go onto the ambulance but into a personal bag for someone's POV.

 

[marineman]

We used to go into the ER every shift and grab a handful of blue caps for IV locks, our company stocked J-loops but the hospitals preferred the small blue caps. We just recently started stocking the caps now because all of the hospitals requested it. Our service is owned by the hospitals so we can resupply anything we need at any of our hospitals (they prefer that we do it at HQ though). Whenever we resupply at a hospital there is a sheet we fill out with what we took from where. It's never been a problem since it comes out of the same bottom line anyway, the sheet just makes sure items are accounted for in the appropriate budget line.

Someone needs to explain this 1 sheet for 1 sheet deal, I have never had anything like that. We have a huge dirty linen box in the garage at all the hospitals (ambulance and hospital linen goes in there) then they all have a rack with fresh linens including 2 different styles of blankets, sheets, pillowcases, various sizes of towels, and washcloths. Whatever you need you take. We work with 4 main hospitals that are part of 2 healthcare systems but all 4 get their laundry done at one central facility then it's sent out to whoever needs it. I didn't know there were hospitals out there that were getting tight on sheets, maybe I'll start hoarding them and bring a big truck with sheets to a dark alley in your area starting bid is just $10

 

[Level1pedstech]

I can tell you that ER budgets are getting very tight,we are being asked to conserve more than ever. I have always noticed alot of needless waste in the areas of basic supplies IV tray stock,splinting material,lac cart contents, and linens.

Money has become such an issue that my hospital no longer provides scrubs for everyone only ED docs,OR,L+D and ER techs get scrubs. From the start I thought this was a crappy way to save a buck but when I saw what it was costing it made a little better sense. The ER was a place I thought would be safe from this cut but it was not until the union stepped up that the techs got three sets of scrubs purchased but we are on our own when it comes to washing them. There is a grossly soiled linen plan in place for all employees should there be any incidents,but lets get real every shift in the ER is an incident. We have been instructed to cut and save whenever possible to help the bottom line. We are a non profit and I know patient care is not being affected so I guess we roll with what we get.

 

[WolfmanHarris]

Never stolen anything from the hospital. Linen is taken, but that's because our service has an agreement with the hospitals to provide a linen cart for us. I suppose you could count the single pairs of gloves that I switch into when it's time to do a bed transfer. But this is generally encouraged so that staff aren't walking around in the same gross gloves. (I go through about four to five pairs a call)
If I take any other hospital equipment it is with permission and for the immediate use on the patient on offload delay.

My service does a decent job of providing needed equipment and uses a pyxis system to handle stocking/restocking of most of it. I may have issues with some things, but there's a process to addressing this that doesn't involve placing the my own and my service's professional reputation at risk.

 

[Akulahawk]

The hospitals and their staff should not be responsible for stocking your ambulance company with supplies YOU think you need. This should be addressed to the ambulance company by you if there is something the ambulance company is not supplying you.

Sheet and towel exchanges are at a different level. However, many hospitals have had to stop that due to abuse of a good thing.

Also, much stuff taken from a hospital often does not go onto the ambulance but into a personal bag for someone's POV.

I have to agree with VentMedic on this. Hospitals should generally not be responsible for stocking your units with supplies unless you're employed by that hospital (hospital service) or your ambulance service or EMS System has an agreement with that hospital to supply certain items. If it's not part of the agreement, don't take it.

Most, but not all, of the services I've worked for use disposable linens, so exchanges with hospitals isn't an issue. The ones that do exchanges, replenish their linens on a 1 for 1 basis out of the supplies designated specifically for that purpose.

If you're lucky enough to work in a system that allows supply and equipment exchange, don't abuse it.

And if it's not YOUR stuff, don't take it from the ambulance or the hospital. I stocked my "personal" kit from my unit. As I used those supplies, I replaced them on a 1 for 1 basis. When I left that company, their supplies stayed with them because... it's not mine. My kit that I keep in my POV or at home NEVER had company supplies. Those kits were never mixed with company supplies.

Makes for better relations all around.

 

[Level1pedstech]

On the subject of stealing or re-stocking out of the ER. I have on occasion been asked for supplies from the EMS crews and have never given it a second thought. We have always exchanged linens but any thing else is extra. I know its not my money but I believe I can trust someone until its proven different. Unless someone is taking supplies for thier own personal gain I don't see the harm.

I don't like accusations of stealing and theft being hurled at providers who are doing what they need to get the job done. I know someone is going to force the issue because it is legally defined as theft but if it becomes a real issue with the bean counters everything will be put under lock and key and will have to be signed for just like meds from the pixis. Bottom line is you should be supplied in a proper manner by your company and getting that right is job one. I think if it was an issue presented to my ER director he would get things taken care of real quick and in the mean time if your short on supplies I'm sure we could help you out. To be honest we had to put a lock on the main supply room door but it was to keep other departments within the hospital from pilfering not the EMS crews.

 

[WolfmanHarris]

I don't like accusations of stealing and theft being hurled at providers who are doing what they need to get the job done.

Ends justifying the means is an attitude that is far too common in failing EMS systems, where the onus is placed on the individual provider to cover for the shortcomings of their system; at the potential cost of their professional reputation. If your system cannot provide the tools to "get the job done," it has failed and you propping it up is only harming EMS as a whole.

Were a situation like this truly a rare occurrence brought about by necessity we wouldn't have a thread like this and I'm sure the facility wouldn't have a problem. But it seems obvious that improperly equipped and managed EMS services are relying on hospitals to take up the slack.

Profit, or non-profit, private or public, every service and every hospital has a bottom line.

 

[triemal04]

The hospitals and their staff should not be responsible for stocking your ambulance company with supplies YOU think you need. This should be addressed to the ambulance company by you if there is something the ambulance company is not supplying you.

Sheet and towel exchanges are at a different level. However, many hospitals have had to stop that due to abuse of a good thing.

Also, much stuff taken from a hospital often does not go onto the ambulance but into a personal bag for someone's POV.

You're right, the service should be providing all the needed equipment. If something is needed to perform your job then your employer should be providing it. Except they aren't due to trying to save money, or for other reasons. And apparently the ER staff has accepted that fact and is willing to help out by giving them some equipment. Is this perfect? No. Does it work right now? Apparently yes. Could it cause problems in the future? Yes.

I've got an idea, how about you get the name of the hospital from dominion, then you can call (or even stop by in person) them to let them know how backwards they are and how things should really be done. Would that make you feel better?

Edit: Really? Show me some proof of the bolded portion, or it's just more whiney BS.

 

[medicdan]

I'll throw in one opinion of mine here. I work for a private semi-rural service, that really only serves one hospital. We perform (medics and Intermediates only) field blood draws, for use in the ER. That particular ER (and labs, i presume) like us to use a particular brand vacutainers, and our administrators dont really like buying them...

So we use supplies taken from the ER (with permission). When we would normally start a line (or lab draws are warranted), we use their brand vacutainers for the collection. We restock whatever we use (draw 3 tubes, take 3 tubes), but have a small supply back at our garage.

It is all agreed upon-- and since when we start a line we bill a flat fee (for the saline lock, not the labs), and it saves the ER some work, and they can bill for the lab test (I presume, including supplies), it is a win-win.

In terms of linen, it is usually one 1:1 basis. The same hospital from above has special EMS linen (different color). There is a set ammount of it, and when the supplies run out, they put out a memo to services, requesting it's return. I presume the system works out... but it is mainly an honor system.

The other service I work for is much more lenient. The hospitals we serve dont really care how much linen we take-- as I guess it all makes it back to them eventually. Fairly often, on our last discharge of the day, we leave the linen from the stretcher with the patient at home. Our supervisors dont like us taking dirty linen back to the garage at the end of the day, and it is often inconvenient for us to return to the hospital.

Again, we really dont hear anything about it, so I dont think it is much of a problem...

 

[Jon]

Around here, linen is normally not an issue. On the 911 side, we only transport to a couple of hospitals, and re-stocking is USUALLY on a 1:1 basis.

We have pillows when the ED has surplus ones... when they run low, we don't have them anymore. We try for 1:1 exchange there too, but when the ED runs out and doesn't have them on beds, then our patients keep ours.

Going back to linens: Winter, blankets become hit or miss, and when they have them, we tend to stock up, because otherwise we won't have them later. Yeah, I know... our stocking up kills it. Whatever.


We had one ED that wanted to give us disposable sheets. Great - except that you can't use them to transfer a pt. using them as draw sheet becuase they'd break. So I'd talk with one of the staff and exchange 1:1.


A couple of local ED's have supplies for EMS, especially IV supplies. When we are there, we'll restock from them, otherwise we have stock on station.

 

[VentMedic]

You're right, the service should be providing all the needed equipment. If something is needed to perform your job then your employer should be providing it. Except they aren't due to trying to save money, or for other reasons. And apparently the ER staff has accepted that fact and is willing to help out by giving them some equipment. Is this perfect? No. Does it work right now? Apparently yes. Could it cause problems in the future? Yes.

I've got an idea, how about you get the name of the hospital from dominion, then you can call (or even stop by in person) them to let them know how backwards they are and how things should really be done. Would that make you feel better?

I don't know where he works and he doesn't want to discuss their problems.

Now, imagine an ED that may get over 100 ambulances or more each day and that doesn't include the many Fire Rescue ambulances which could also be well over 100 easily. This is just to the ED and not to the many floors, units and clinics within just the immediate system. Do you actually think we can tell our taxpayers that we are giving over $100 worth of supplies away to each ambulance every day? That would also be a small estimate of worth of many supplies. There is such thing as accountabliity and if you have ever worked in management of any type you might understand something about that and the many types of budgets. So yes, we do have security that monitors what comes in and what leaves our facilies.

Edit: Really? Show me some proof of the bolded portion, or it's just more whiney BS.

"Also, much stuff taken from a hospital often does not go onto the ambulance but into a personal bag for someone's POV".

You are kidding right? Have you never read any of the many threads on the many forums? Have you never read some even admit to where they got their supplies? Did you not even read some of the posts from the person who started this thread? This is also not the first thread on this forum about theft. Seriously? Stop the whining and start reading.

 

[triemal04]

I don't know where he works and he doesn't want to discuss their problems.

Now, imagine an ED that may get over 100 ambulances or more each day and that doesn't include the many Fire Rescue ambulances which could also be well over 100 easily. This is just to the ED and not to the many floors, units and clinics within just the immediate system. Do you actually think we can tell our taxpayers that we are giving over $100 worth of supplies away to each ambulance every day? That would also be a small estimate of worth of many supplies. There is such thing as accountabliity and if you have ever worked in management of any type you might understand something about that and the many types of budgets. So yes, we do have security that monitors what comes in and what leaves our facilies.

"Also, much stuff taken from a hospital often does not go onto the ambulance but into a personal bag for someone's POV".

You are kidding right? Have you never read any of the many threads on the many forums? Have you never read some even admit to where they got their supplies? Did you not even read some of the posts from the person who started this thread? This is also not the first thread on this forum about theft. Seriously? Stop the whining and start reading.

I know, and I agree. No matter who the supplies go to, no matter for what reason, no matter if it's a good or bad reason, it costs money. And if it's not an official deal, then that's money that will not be reimbursed. I'd much prefer that every service provided each person with everything that they needed so that this discussion would not even be happening; be nice right? Wish it worked that way, but it doesn't. And, again, despite your personal feelings on this, or mine, despite what could potentially happen to the ER staff if somebody got upset over this, based on dominions post, they (the staff) are ok with the situation. Either accept that or don't. If you don't, then perhaps you should ask dominion what hospital this is so you can set them straight.

As an aside, you work for a public hospital and not a privately run one?

Actually, you may want to rethink your final comments; nobody in this thread has said they take equipment from a hospital to stock a personal bag for their POV or otherwise. To be honest, I don't recall every seeing somebody post that. Not that I couldn't be wrong and very well may be, but...well...either prove it, or let this go down as another example of you complaining about something without any facts. You know...spreading rumors and hearsay for personal reasons.

 

[paramedichopeful]

Stealing is wrong like you said, but you may want to calm down a bit.

Also, do you have a reference for $50 sheets? That seems a little excessive.

Yes I do. My aunt was recently tranfered to ICU-West from the triage dept. and was required to do inventory of what was there. I was with her when she did it, too. There is an itemized list of what should be there, and each line has the per-unit price listed. Sheets were actually $48.85 and everything else was 10 times what it should be. How can these vendors/suppliers get away with that kind of crap?

 

[medichopeful]

Yes I do. My aunt was recently tranfered to ICU-West from the triage dept. and was required to do inventory of what was there. I was with her when she did it, too. There is an itemized list of what should be there, and each line has the per-unit price listed. Sheets were actually $48.85 and everything else was 10 times what it should be. How can these vendors/suppliers get away with that kind of crap?

Because they can :sad:

 

[medicdan]

I dont know who runs things around you, but here Angelica does just about all the linen cleaning/control. As I understand it, the facility owns a certain ammount of generic linen-- and the company makes sure they always have that ammount in the building in relation to what is returned.

 

[exodus]

Yes I do. My aunt was recently tranfered to ICU-West from the triage dept. and was required to do inventory of what was there. I was with her when she did it, too. There is an itemized list of what should be there, and each line has the per-unit price listed. Sheets were actually $48.85 and everything else was 10 times what it should be. How can these vendors/suppliers get away with that kind of crap?

Per unit can mean that their are several individual items within the one unit. So chances are, the sheets probably come in individuals of 5, stocked into one Unit.

 

[EMT-G36C]

Except for one hospital, we can take all the linen we need/want.

IDPH has a law that we are required to have a minimum of six sheets and two blankets in every rig. We try hard to keep the numbers at 1:1, but after doing four or five IFTs without stopping at an ER, you need to grab more than 1.

They are ok with this. Except Swedish. You need a key fob they provided us, and can only take 2 sheets and a blanket every half hour.

 

[firecoins]

I stole about $10 million in funds to refurbish a children's wing.