Transporting patients to testing

[judymicurn]

Does anyone have a policy on the transporting of med/surg patients to other departments (ie: radiology) with chest tubes or blood infusing? Does your policy require a RN to transport?

[casi, ASN, RN]

The only transport restrictions I know of in our hospital are for patients who have to be transported on telemetry monitoring. They need to have an ACLS nurse transporting.

[grandmawrinkle]

Chest tubes shouldn't require an RN, just a NA that knows better than to let the patient sit on them or otherwise kink them off.

I would personally not send a patient anywhere with blood running without a licensed staffperson present, but I don't know if there is a policy on this or not at my facility.

[CAllen44]

Our facility doesn't have any requirements on those. Our only requirement is that an RN be present if it is an ICU patient. I'm not even an aide, just a transporter, and I transport pts with chest tubes and blood infusing. And I transport tele pts ALL the time.

[AnnaN5]

RN must go with chest tube patients, blood infusing, nitro going at a rate greater than 30 mics/min, and all cardizem drips. That is all I can think of at the moment, but I know there are a few more.

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

a nurse must accompany the pt if they have a narcotic infusion, TPN, blood, IV infusions other than plain bags, chest tubes or any king of drainage tube except a catheter.

We escort them down to the dept and hand them over to a nurse who looks after them and escorts them back when the procedure is over. They will do their vitals, chest tube checks, suction etc if required and flip catheter chambers.

It really frees up your time rather than hanging around while the rest of the ward has to care for your pt load. Also as you are handing over to another nurse (RN guys i'm in OZ) you are confident that the pt is going to get care while they are out of the ward. And you aren't left trying to squeeze 2 hr work in when they get back

[judymicurn]

Thanks!