Question for the ICU nurses??

Specialties MICU

Published

At your hospitals, if your patient needs to travel for a diagnostic study (CT, XRay, MRI), who transports the patient? In our hospital it is the job of the radiology nurse and we feel it is unsafe because we don't know the patients.

Thanks,

Deb

Specializes in Rotor, Trauma ICU, MICU.

If you turn your patient over to someone who is unable to manage the patient or not able to provide the same level of care you are guilty of abandonment. If they have a bad outcome, your responsible. Dont put yourself in that position. You worked too hard for your license...

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Specializes in Newborn ICU, Trauma ICU, Burn ICU, Peds.

We have a "SWAT" nurse team whose job it is to do most of our transports to tests/procedures (other than OR, of course). They transport patients from all the ICU's, adult, peds, and neonatal (they are only avail M-F 0800-2100 and Sat 0800-1700), if they are not available, then an ICU RN goes.

In either case, an RT goes if the pt is intubated or with unstable respiratory issues, and patient transporter or tech to push the vent/bed.

I think in all my years in adult ICU I only had a doc go with me once and that was a VERY unstable patient. But now that I'm in the NICU, a qualified (able to intubate neonates) MD or NNP must also accompany us for intubated patients, to reintubate if we lose the tube.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.

radiology nurse? wow. never heard of one of those, outside specials.

[color=#483d8b]non-vented, relativly stable: nurse, assistent (another nurse, bored md, orderly, whomever is available)

[color=#483d8b]vented, relativly stable (think routine post crani head ct): rt, rn.

[color=#483d8b]unstable: rnx2, rt, resident on a rare occasion, after much discussion of "is this test really that necessary?"

[color=#483d8b]in all of the radiology trasports i have done as an icu nurse, and there have been many, many, many in my relativly short career, i have had an md (resident) go with me once. it was the begining of july. ironically, it was to nuc med, which happened to be just around the corner in a very large hospital. literally out the door and to the left (the shortest radiology road trip i have ever been on). he was scared to death, too (the resident, not the patient). and while the patient survived the transport, she didn't survived the intubation, which happened about 20 min after we returned from nuc med.

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ICU nurse, RT if intubated and transport person

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