Does this happen to you?

[David Offenbaker, BSN, RN]

I work in a very busy LTACH. We employ full-time PT/OT. Many of our patients are obese and require a full-assist while transferring. Here's what gets me.

PT/OT groups will come in, get the patient out of bed into the wheelchair and wheel them down to the PT/OT gym. Then, low and behold you walk by their room and the patient is back sitting all uncomfortable in the chair. When you call for assistance from PT/OT they get mad and get state, "Did they not teach you how to transfer in nursing school?".

Of course we can transfer, but I figure if they helped get them out of bed, they can help put them BACK in bed.

Am I wrong to think this?

Dave

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

i have always had a problem with PT getting patients up and not putting them back to bed. yes i agree with you they should put them back. but they never do... so i end up doing it .. and i'm an old lady... lol... well at least i feel like one...

[tencat]

Nope, not wrong. In fact, THEY should have learned how to transfer patients in PT school.......might point that out to them.....

[ICRN2008, BSN, RN]

I always told them "We had minimal training on how to transfer, and you know best how to transfer this individual patient. If you teach me, I can do it the next time."

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

You are right they should return the patient to bed unless they have discussed it with nursing. You can fix this by agreeing as a group that this is the way it should be handled and they can be notified in a staff meeting. Also after PT many patients are fatiqued and do want to take a rest. sounds like they are doing what is best for them and not the patient!!!!!

[chevyv, BSN, RN]

Totally agree with the above poster. It sounds like PT might be doing whats easier for them. I understand that some pts need to stay up for awhile, but after a session in PT, pts are usually wiped. Hopefully, you can catch them and have a powow regarding who stays up and who goes back to bed. As far as transferring; they should be better and many times they have really good ideas for the trickier ones.

[VegRN]

Actually, I usually have the opposite reaction. I usually am glad that PT helped get them up once because Md orders are usually something to the tune of "up to chair TID" and that is less work for me. Do you not have lifts and all those gizmos? That makes it much easier.

[Riseupandnurse]

If PT is just teaching transfers, well yes, it's appropriate to leave the patients in a chair for awhile. But if they've worked them out with ambulation, the patients need to be placed back in bed to rest. It is very lazy to leave them up (usually done by the PT transporters.)