Hospital Transports

[campmonkey]

Who is in charge of bringing your sick/injured campers to the ED/doctor's office? Would you mind sharing your "protocol" concerning these transports? Have you ever had to have a child taken by ambulance? Who accompanied that child?

Before last summer, the sole health care provider at my camp was in charge of transports; one of the lifeguards was left in charge of the health center. We tried changing this last summer but so far it has not worked so well so I would love to get some ideas.

[CampNurse1]

You've got to convince the CD that the transport person should be someone other than the nurse! If you go to the ER, you are out of the game, cooling your heels in a waiting room for as long as it takes. Our camp policy is that all trips to the ER are per ambulance. The typical camp nurse is not trained in emergency medicine, so it is best to get your emergent cases in the hands of professionals ASAP.

Doctor's office visits can easily be handled by a mature non-nurse. Make sure you send the camper's folder, including consent, with the camper. Campers should always travel in a camp vehicle, never your own car. You are not insured for that! Give the doctor's nurse a call when they return; lay people have a hard time telling you what the doctor said. Who calls the parents? Ideally, it should be the camp director. If the call falls to you, start the conversation with, "Let me start by telling you your daughter (or son) is fine." Then go from there. If they are not fine, tell them the problem. Remember to CYA, offer no opinion on the cause or who is at fault, and protect your license.