Patient transport trolleys and stretchers are designed to reliably move and support short stay patients throughout the entire healthcare system, by reducing the physical strain on carers and meeting the heavy demands of a high daily patient throughput.
If you’re interested, this article is going to discuss some of the most common areas where a stretcher could potentially improve efficiency in your facility.
From the arrival of a patient to a hospital, transport trolleys will begin to play an important role in movement and handling. Typically, the stretcher platforms used in emergency vehicles are constructed both light in weight and extra narrow to assist in lifting a patient both in and out of tight vehicular space constraints. The reduction in stability during maneuvering emergency vehicle stretchers requires extreme care. Where distance is required, immediate transfer of the patient (or patient stretcher) onto a larger more stable platform can increase transfer safety and speed.
Moving the patient quickly to a patient transport and procedure trolley ensures the patient is adequately supported on a unit that will facilitate emergency medical procedures, x-rays and recovery. While giving a level of short stay comfort for the patient, the healthcare staff have close and fast access to the patient and the ability to easily move interdepartmental across a facility.
The movement of a patient from pre-op through surgery and to recovery can be challenging with space constraints in a busy environment. Patient trolleys are designed to find the best compromise between the patient’s comfort, the ability to transfer the patient with the least staff input possible, the surgeon teams’ best access to the patient, the safe recovery of the patient and the speed or ease of cleaning of the trolley.
Where possible, by having just one trolley per patient to move through this system, efficiency may be streamlined for maximum patient throughput in a range of surgical procedures that are under heavy demand.
Be it the medical exam of in-patients by doctors in private clinics or public hospitals, or the waiting and approvals in out-patient areas, the refined overall dimensions of patient stretchers as over against standard hospital beds help maximise space in small treatment rooms. Patient trolleys offer better patient access for the carers involved, offer a full range of patient positioning with CPR and side support available to ensure practical use. In the event of an emergency, patient stretchers have been designed to be more easily moved through tight doorways and hallways.
There are many requirements within the healthcare environment to transfer patients quickly and safely. The compact design of patient trolleys can help with movement throughout doorways, hallways, access ramps, personnel lifts and medical rooms. Large castor sizes and a lighter trolley weight also ensure that operators can maneuver and transport with ease both in and outside the facility.
With adequate comfort and support, patients can be transferred between departments on products that are built to facilitate smooth bed to bed transfer and easy egress. The right equipment can help to reduce the number of carers and physical effort that is required to move and position patients daily.
No matter which make or model stretcher your department is already using, if utilised correctly can drum up better efficiency within your facility. If you're looking to implement stretchers into your department you might find these articles relevant to you before making any decisions.
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