For my medical people.
A simple question really…
When you are pushing a stretcher/bed into an elevator, do you back in so that the patient is facing the doors, or do you go in feet first?
It’s common sense to me, but just about every person I’ve worked with in the last six months has done it the opposite way. I was taught to always back the patient in so that they are facing forward.
Please set my coworkers straight? Please? Or am I being overly critical?
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Always. Always back the stretcher into the elevator.
Back in. It lets the patient maintain the elevator convention of facing the doors rather than having things be even more unusual than being on an ambulance cot.
If they’re unconscious and you have the elevator to yourselves, it really doesn’t matter.
I just start them spinning and then give them a nudge. If the wheels don’t get caught in the gap and dump them over, I just let them ride in the postion of ‘rest’.
Yeah.
They go in backwards, out forwards. Common courtesy.
the reason i was taught to take people into an elevator backwards: “it scares the crap out of old people. especially those with alzheimers.”
seriously. those words actually came out of my preceptor’s mouth.
i was told to watch out for elevators with mirrors. at some time in my town, elevators were “fashionable” with placed at the rear. seeing themselves caused a few patients with various forms of dementia/psych issues to become aggitated.
i don’t obey this rule as strictly as i once did. (i have since switched services and serve a generally much younger population.) most of my coworkers have never heard of this rule, but are generally willing to go along with a request like having the patient ride in an elevator like the rest of us.
(sidenote: the majority of patients that ride facing the rear of the elevator do not feel anything other than the pain that caused them to contact you. that uncomfortable feeling you have is yours alone.)
Back in 99.9% of the time. I have had a few occasions in emergent situations with an unresponsive patient, to just get the heck in the elevator any old way possible in order to get where we’re going.
Whenever I get a new partner on the rescue I silently see which way they plan on pushing the stretcher, forward or backwards. If they go forward so the patient can see where they’re going I know I’ll be okay, if they push the patient backwards I know I’ve got to start from the beginning.
Great question, Epi, one that’s just taken for granted by a lot of people.
Unless of course the elevator has doors that open on both sides of the elevator….then what? I tend to face my patients so that they’ll be facing the door that opens at the end of ride — which in some cases means I’m wheeling the patient in feet first. Feels funny at first, but when the doors open at the end of the ride and they’re facing the “correct” way (feet out first) it seems best.
Agreed. It would just be weird to face the back of the lift, so keep your patient comfortable. Can’t see any logic for the other way
If at all possible I always back a pt in because the rest of us are facing forward- its a little awkward if you’re trying to reassure a pt if they aren’t able to look at you without straining their neck. If they’re unconscious well, that’s a whole different story. And I don’t know about you guys but if there’s a claustrophobia issue- facing the back of elevator will send your pt through the roof if they are alert enough to react! Been there done that unfortunately!
I always back them in, so they face forward. I recently worked with a partner that had no “stretcher etiquette”. I had a small “in service” after the call was over. ;)
Always backed in. For pt comfort, no one likes their backs to the crowd. And especially in an elevator they can’t see anything that’s going on.
Also back them in for safety concerns. What if the door accidentally closes on the stretcher and/or patient?
Better to close at the foot of the stretcher, than at the head!
Back in, always. Always.
It assures the patient’s safety and comfort. Their back isn’t turned to everyone and you can get the out of the elevator quicker if they start to crash on you.
Normally I back the cot into an elevator. JS
Back in always. As my preceptor told me once, “show them where they’re going, not where they’ve been.”
It really, really bothers me when people push them in feet first.
sideways,at least 40% of the elevators I have been in recently had it that way only with a stretcher, otherwise they face towards the doors.
Well back in……as for wheelchairs it’s basicly the law. Something about the Americans with disabilities Act.
But for stretchers is always have the pt face the door like everyone else.
Backwards. I agree. Unless of course you’re in one of those nursing homes where the idiots who designed the elevator never considered that old, infirm residents might need to come down the elevator on a stretcher. Then you have to fold them up in it to make it fit however you can.
Backwards…but then my original medic training was with the Air Force working in hospitals…part of nursing education then.
People like to see where they’re going, not where they’ve been.
maybe its our elevators around here, but the only way I can get the strecher in is sideways…. they wouldnt fit if i backed them in. but then again, I dont do a lot of elevator stuff…the only time is when we bring a mom straight to L&D cause the ER routes us directly there with OB stuff.
I’ve never done anything but back the stretcher into the elevator.
Exactly.
Thank you both.