Introduction
Stretchers may not be protagonist in a tertiary care hospital but it occupies an important place in emergency department as many patients are kept on stretchers for hours and days in hospital A & E department. This exercise is defined as boarding and may lead to increased morbidity and mortality with increased length of stay (1). However it is resorted due to overcrowding. Lack of beds predominantly in public sector hospital. Additionally during disasters & calamities there is hardly any alternative to it. Stretchers even though useful have inherent disadvantages Vis a Vis beds. A study conducted on 60 subjects using conventional wood and canvas stretcher found stretchers cold and uncomfortable, especially over the heels and lower back (9). Adverse events may occur during ambulance stretcher operation and can result in significant injury to patients and ambulance …show more content…
But Stretchers have got some benefits over routine hospital bed also. A study conducted in ICU setting found stretchers to be better compared to hospital bed in conducting CPR as they do not require back board, since Back board is essential when performing CPR on soft surface (10).Research has proved that straddling chest compressions performed on a moving stretchers are as effective as on the floor. By performing straddling chest compression on stretchers the time for transporting the patient to get advance life support may be reduced (4).Despite the limitations of stretcher, the handling of stretchers and trolleys plays a vital part in the early management of seriously ill and injured patients. A lot of imperative features have to be adopted as that it can be made safe for the patients, cost-efficient for the hospital management and easy to use for health care workers & maintain to reduce health care associated infections. The design of the stretcher should include
Stretchers may not be protagonist in a tertiary care hospital but it occupies an important place in emergency department as many patients are kept on stretchers for hours and days in hospital A & E department. This exercise is defined as boarding and may lead to increased morbidity and mortality with increased length of stay (1). However it is resorted due to overcrowding. Lack of beds predominantly in public sector hospital. Additionally during disasters & calamities there is hardly any alternative to it. Stretchers even though useful have inherent disadvantages Vis a Vis beds. A study conducted on 60 subjects using conventional wood and canvas stretcher found stretchers cold and uncomfortable, especially over the heels and lower back (9). Adverse events may occur during ambulance stretcher operation and can result in significant injury to patients and ambulance …show more content…
But Stretchers have got some benefits over routine hospital bed also. A study conducted in ICU setting found stretchers to be better compared to hospital bed in conducting CPR as they do not require back board, since Back board is essential when performing CPR on soft surface (10).Research has proved that straddling chest compressions performed on a moving stretchers are as effective as on the floor. By performing straddling chest compression on stretchers the time for transporting the patient to get advance life support may be reduced (4).Despite the limitations of stretcher, the handling of stretchers and trolleys plays a vital part in the early management of seriously ill and injured patients. A lot of imperative features have to be adopted as that it can be made safe for the patients, cost-efficient for the hospital management and easy to use for health care workers & maintain to reduce health care associated infections. The design of the stretcher should include