Body Bags

[CEN35]

ok for those of you that work in the er. here is a question for you? when you recieve a squad call, for an unwittnessed arrest, do cover the cart matress with a body bag before the patient arrives?

me :)

[micro, RN]

hey Cen,

I am game........micro is game for anything....note the # of posts.

but as I am not an ER nurse.....can't vote in poll.....

but hey.....saves the time and etc........right.....and in actuality no one is the wiser for it.......except your back.....

and if the person gets up and walks out of there(so to speak.....then think what a kicker story they can tell)

actually have heard some great survivor stories from people who were dead and doing fine now......and tell their story to .........help propritiate health care field as well as personal health care.........

Cen........great moderating and postings.........

[4XNURSE]

CEN35,

What a good idea. I never thought of that. It would save the work of lifting and or turning, and keep the ER gurneys cleaner. Some of those codes can get messy.

Am I warped or what?

just my $ .02

ken

[suzannasue]

I don't work ER,but it was required we put pts in body bags because hospital was losing revenue by hospital gowns not being returned by mortician...the first prototype wasn't even a bag,it was a sheet of white plastic...the kit included heavy string...

we were supposed to be able to wrap everyone in the plastic,however,one night I had a rather large pt...had to tape the edges together!!!!!!! The string was for tying the wrists together...Needless to say...I protested about the plastic sheet and string,told administration it made me feel like I was wrapping a a parcel of meat and that tying the wrists was way to much like a necrophiliac's idea of bondage. The new body bags were actually body bags, toe tags included.

[neneRN, BSN, RN]

I work in ER--We don't deal with body bags at all- pt goes into death gurney (stretcher with metal/canvas box thingy on top) in gown - the morgue handles it after that point.

[Nittlebug]

no I think that's tacky. I wouldn't want the family to see that.

[2ndCareerRN]

We don't even have body bags. Pt is left on stretcher until funeral home of choice comes to get them. Then sheets and all goes with body. Few of our codes get gowned, usually remove clothing and cover with sheet as soon as they roll in the door.

bob

[CEN35]

ok here is the reason why i asked this question. i also have nittlebugs answer to their comment.

we never had body bags either. they were transfered to the covered cart, and taken to the morgue by transport.

then transporters complained, saying they didn't like it. so administration said, we had to put our deceased in body bags.

so we now have white body bags.

i am willing to say it's a safe bet, that only 1/30 or more unwittnessed full arrests and/or traumatic full arrests ever make it. (actually traumatic is like 0.2%).

we cover the gurney with the bag (which does keep the matress cleaner, with no body fluid exposure) and then we make the bed with two clean white sheets. so nittlebug, the family never has to know.

believe it or not, it is much easier to do this than the other way. rolling a 200lb or larger deceased, to get the bag under them is a pia. usually on the traumatics and unwittnessed arrests who have been gone a while, they tend to expell crap out the ett all over the bed when you roll them.

pretty much it depends on the nurse, but i see most where i work doing it.

that is where the question came from, and it was not meant to offend or disgust anybody.

me :)

[massEDgirl]

We do not use body bags in the ED I work in just "tag" 'em ......cover witha sheet...and bring to the morgue.

[debbyed]

I use body-bags the same way CEN3 does. The family never knows and makes the task of clean-up much easier. In the event they actually make it we've wasted a body-bag.

It works great on nights because of the decreased number of staff...It only takes one person to do the post care instead of 2 or 3.

[ktwlpn, LPN]

Originally posted by CEN35

We never had body bags either. They were transfered to the covered cart, and taken to the morgue by transport.

Then transporters complained, saying they didn't like it. So Administration said, we had to put our deceased in body bags.

So we now have white body bags.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Just one question Cen-how did transport know what was going on in that morgue cart???Do they actually transfer the deceased to the morgue drawer or autopsy table or whatever????Are they actually coming into contact with the body????? Inquiring minds want to know-sounds like an impropriety to me-transport should have NO BUSINESS being in direct contact with a body-for many reasons....

[CEN35]

well our transporters move the deceased from the gurney to the morgue cart. then they take them down to the morgue with security. after that i'm not sure what all they do with them?

me :)