telemetry transport

[jmsteinberg]

I am working in upstate NY. We are looking at the use of unlicensed personnel in acute care. What are the standards that you use for tranporting telemetry ( not ICU) patients? (for example, patients being transferred from ICU to the floor who will be on tele there, or floor patients going for a CXR). Do you always send a RN with the patient? Do you let unlicensed personnel go with them if they have had tele training? Please let me know what your standard of care is. Thanks

(I need to clarify: these are NOT ICU patients. They are patients who are being transferred to the floor who will be on tele or on the floor on tele.)

[NurseDennie, BSN, RN]

The hospital where I used to work generally had a nurse with a nonlicensed person transport someone on telemetry.

Yeah, nonlicensed people can monitor the telemetry, but they call a nurse if they see something. Hard to do in an elevator!

Love

Dennie

[Zee_RN, BSN, RN]

In our telemetry unit, it is based on individual need. The physician can write an order "Ok to transport to CXR without monitor." It depends on the stability of the patient and what kind of medications they may be on. If they are iffy, then a monitor and an RN goes with the patient.

[kaycee]

Where I work all patients on a monitor that need transported to the tele unit for adm or transported for a test from the ER go with a nurse and tech. Unless as Zee said the MD has written an order that the pt. can go without nurse and monitor. If that's the case our techs can transport.

[CTnuse]

I think if the nurse and the physician agree that this is a stable patient than tele is not needed. First you always treat the patient, not the rhythm.

Denise

[ratchit]

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[Zee_RN, BSN, RN]

Heh, I hate transporting too. Especially from the ICU...a patient on vent, with an art line, a swan, five drips....yeech! ICU is on the third floor; radiology on the first...and narrow doorways in between!

We always joke that the ICU doors should be a CT scanner...as patients come into the ICU, just scan 'em as they come through the doors...'cause you know as soon as you tube 'em and swan 'em, that's when they're gonna get the brilliant idea to do a head scan or belly scan. And they get to write the order and walk away!

[McCoyRN]

depends on the patient. a routine cxr on a stable patient- we send them without their tele and hook them up when they get back; if they have chest pain and need to go for cardiac cath, then a resident or rn would go with them and a pro pack. besides, cxr, utrasound, dopplers etc. can be done at the bedside, so if my patient was unstable or i didn't feel comfortable letting them go, i would try to arrange it to be done at the bedside.