Health, alas, does not last forever. And often relatives of a bedridden patient have to deal with the problem of transportation - how to deliver the patient for examination, to a boarding house, home after hospitalization, to the train to the railway station or to the airport, because transport services are not included in the list of social services? What to do in such cases and when can you count on the state, and when do you have to take matters into your own hands?
Transportation of patients, or, in official language, medical evacuation, was born simultaneously with ambulance - after a terrible fire at the Vienna Opera, when the victims remained on the street next to the burnt building for more than a day, unable to get to the hospital on their own. The First World War also made its contribution to the formation of the basic principles of transporting bedridden patients, when transporting the wounded ceased to be considered a purely military problem and turned into a medical one. Fortunately, the need for medical evacuation after emergencies is not encountered so often, but the need to transport bedridden patients arises regularly. If the patient’s condition is such that the process is carried out by ambulance, then medical evacuation consists of two stages:
- assessment of the patient’s general condition and provision of necessary medical care at home;
- transportation and continuation of treatment in a hospital of the required profile.
But if a bedridden patient needs to be returned home from the hospital, the relatives have a problem - the ambulance does not deal with such transportation. Indeed, if a person does not need the help of a doctor, use a team to transport bedridden patients from the hospital for free medical workers at least irrational.
Types of patient transportation
Transportation of non-ambulatory patients, as well as ordinary patients, can be emergency or planned. Emergency is carried out in situations where the patient’s life is in danger or his health condition requires urgent hospitalization. This category also includes cases in which it is necessary to transport a patient from one medical institution to another, since highly specialized assistance is needed. For example, in a general medical hospital there may well be a pregnant woman who has begun to give birth. In this situation, the decision on the need for transportation is made by the head of the hospital, his deputy for medical work or the doctor on duty.
Planned transportation may be necessary:
- during planned hospitalization;
- returning from hospital;
- examinations;
- transportation to a boarding house, hospice, etc.;
- visits to relatives.
Depending on the type of injury (if any) and the general condition of the patient, he can be transported to the car:
- on foot;
- on crutches and with support;
- on hands;
- on a wheelchair;
- on a stretcher.
People with mild somatic pathologies and injuries of the upper extremities are escorted to the car on foot. If the trip is long, it is better to put such a patient in the car, especially if he complains of dizziness.
You can use crutches and support to walk patients with lower leg and foot injuries to their car after immobilization.
Children are carried in their arms. For adults - only in extreme cases, when it is impossible to use a stretcher (for example, it is impossible to turn around on the stairs with them) and it is also impossible to replace them with a blanket.
Patients are transported on stretchers:
- unconscious;
- in a state of shock;
- in case of acute cerebrovascular accident;
- with myocardial infarction;
- women in labor;
- pregnant women with eclampsia or threat of premature birth;
- with moderate to severe surgical or gynecological pathology;
- with spinal injury;
- with traumatic brain injuries.
Before transferring the patient onto a stretcher, it is recommended to lay down a blanket or thin blanket - then it will make transferring easier. The free ends of the blanket are wrapped around the patient. Don't forget about an extra warm blanket and hat if it's cold outside.
Usually the patient is carried head first, but if he has to be carried down stairs, the lower limbs should be in front. Even if the patient himself reacts negatively to this, safety precautions are more important than prejudice.
Rules for transporting a victim
The patient must be prepared for transportation. If it is an emergency, the medical team prepares and stabilizes the patient’s condition, and they also monitor the victim during the trip itself. If the transportation is planned, preparing the patient for transportation falls on the shoulders of relatives.
The patient needs to be reassured and the need for transportation explained. A few days before it, you need to especially carefully monitor his health and take all prescribed medications. The last meal before transportation should be no later than 2 hours before it, and if possible, it is better to transport the patient on an empty stomach. This reduces the likelihood of motion sickness and vomiting.
It is necessary to convince the patient to relieve natural needs shortly before leaving home. A diaper is put on the patient, especially if the trip is long.
Clothing, documents, and personal hygiene items are prepared in advance, but if it is cold outside, the patient is dressed immediately before transportation.
The “approaches” to the patient’s bed and the path to the door must be cleared so that specialists can carry stretchers and other necessary equipment.
During transportation, the patient should not be fed or given water to avoid causing food to enter the respiratory tract or vomit.
Transport services for bedridden patients
So, an ambulance can deliver a patient to a hospital free of charge if his health condition requires urgent qualified medical care. But after the hospitalization period ends, the state, as they say, washes its hands, and transporting a bedridden patient from the hospital home becomes the concern of relatives. Theoretically, the hospital administration can meet halfway and provide transport for transportation, but this cannot be obligated. Private transportation services can come to the rescue.
Private services are always available and, in general, transportation takes place in much more comfortable conditions than hospital transport can provide. The patient is transported under the supervision of qualified personnel. But there is also a downside - due to the fact that transporting bedridden patients requires expensive equipment and trained specialists, it cannot be cheap. The cost of transporting bedridden patients in Moscow starts from 2,500 rubles for transportation within 5 km within the Moscow Ring Road. If the patient weighs more than 150 kg, then an additional orderly will cost at least another 1,000 rubles. And if the patient’s health condition is such that constant medical monitoring is necessary, then the cost of transportation can reach 8,000–10,000 rubles. But many transport companies have social tariffs for preferential categories citizens - this needs to be clarified in each individual case.
Sanitary transportation of bedridden patients is not an easy task. The state or municipality can help only in emergency cases, when the life and health of a person is in danger and transportation to a hospital is required - this is required by law. In all other cases you have to rely on your own strength. It is strictly not recommended to try to transport a bedridden patient in an unequipped vehicle, especially in an ordinary passenger car; this is dangerous not only for health, but also for life. Private transportation services are equipped with special vehicles, and specially trained employees must transfer the patient in and out of the car and monitor his condition.
Often the cheapest, but at the same time the slowest and most dangerous way of transporting people with disabilities. Currently, some carriages have specialized compartments equipped for transporting bedridden patients. But never rush to buy tickets; it’s important to weigh everything carefully. In some cases, this method of transporting a bedridden patient may not be the cheapest as it seems at first, since not all settlements in our country have services that provide transportation services for patients, and transporting a patient with disabilities from the train station to home or hospital may result in a big problem and additional financial costs. Among other things, loading and unloading a bedridden patient from a railway train requires the involvement of more people, otherwise there is a risk of the stretcher tipping over, which will ultimately lead to injury and worsening the patient’s condition.
International and intercity transportation of bedridden patients on regular airlines
The most expensive and complex method of transportation, but at the same time fast and comfortable. Russian airlines transport people with disabilities (wheelchair users and bedridden patients). The leader in the field of transportation of people with disabilities is Aeroflot airline. Other airlines such as S7 Airlines (Siberia), Utair (Ural Airlines - UTair), Nordwind (North Wind) can be considered as alternative options if there are similar routes on each specific route. The deadline for submitting a flight application is from 48 to 72 hours before departure. Each airline determines the cost of transporting a bedridden patient independently; the difference in price on one route can reach several tens of percent; on average, the cost of a medical transportation tariff is equal to the cost of three or six one-way tickets, since the aircraft cabin is transformed to suit the needs of the patient and usually in both directions .
Intercity transportation of a bedridden patient by medical vehicle
The simplest and fastest type of transportation for sedentary patients. It has a number of advantages over rail and air methods of transporting bedridden patients. Transportation of a bedridden patient to another city is carried out without changing the vehicle; vehicles can reach any place where there are roads. This is an inexpensive form of transportation and sometimes cheaper than rail. Despite the fact that sanitary and resuscitation minibuses are much slower than planes and helicopters, due to the fact that much less time is required to supply transport, and there are practically no restrictions on weather conditions, it is often possible to deliver a bedridden patient faster. If we compare the time of transporting a patient by train and minibus " Ambulance“Then our many years of experience show that their travel time differs little; minibuses often deliver faster, since there is no need to waste time changing vehicles.
If you need intercity transportation in an intensive care vehicle with a full team of doctors, follow the link -> TRANSPORTATION OF PATIENTS BETWEEN CITIES WITH A TEAM OF DOCTORS.
Look at the photo gallery of our trips with bedridden patients in Russia and abroad.
When a person is sick, it is very sad, but when he cannot move independently, it is doubly sad. Relatives and friends are ready to do everything to alleviate the condition of a loved one or simply give him pleasure, and sometimes this requires transportation of bedridden patients from city to city, sometimes outside the country. The purpose of moving can be different - treatment in a clinic, rehabilitation in a sanatorium or vacation at a resort is required. Or maybe the whole family is moving to another city. One way or another, deciding how to deliver or transport a bedridden or non-ambulatory patient to another city can develop into a real problem.
Anyone who has had to deal with a similar situation will confirm that it is not easy to cope with. Transportation of patients from another city or transporting bedridden patients to another city is a very difficult and responsible task. A person who has severe difficulty moving or is unable to move at all, is bedridden, or wheelchair, and therefore he cannot travel in the traditional way - in a car, train or plane. In addition, there are such difficult cases when transporting a patient can be dangerous for his life. In all of the above cases, transportation of immovable patients requires vehicle with special medical equipment.
How to transport a sick person to another city
Transportation of bedridden patients between cities is carried out using specialized transport, which provides everything for a comfortable stay for sitting and bedridden patients, has the necessary medical equipment and, of course, there is room for accompanying persons.
Such a vehicle is equipped with all the necessary equipment and medicines. A special car has a comfortable stretcher, and if there is such a need, for example in the case of a spinal injury, the patient is secured in a special way. There are doctors nearby monitoring the patient’s condition. The car has monitoring devices blood pressure, oxygen supply and so on.
Features of transporting a bedridden patient between cities (intercity)
Transporting a patient over long distances includes not only the process of moving in special transport, caring for him, assessing his condition, but also going down from the floor and going up to the floor. This work can only be performed by qualified specialists using special stretchers, because for those who transport patients between cities this is not a problem. It should be remembered that in especially severe cases the patient should not be shaken; often he should be provided with access to oxygen (for which an oxygen mask is worn), medicinal support, and so on. Each case is individual, and professionals from a specialized medical company can navigate the specific situation and ensure proper transportation.
Sanitary transportation of a bedridden patient across Russia
Medical transportation of bedridden patients between cities is a special and very responsible service that our company offers in full and at the most professional and high-quality level. For this purpose, an ambulance is used, equipped with the latest medical science and technology. The equipment includes, among other things, resuscitation devices, devices for providing almost any assistance that may be required during the move, a special stretcher and a mattress. Highly qualified doctors provide complete control over the patient: transportation of disabled people from city to city is accompanied by ensuring the stability of his condition and maximum comfort.
The technical medical equipment of cars makes it possible to transport a disabled person from one city to another city, regardless of the distance between points - both within the country and abroad. If it is necessary to transport a newborn child in serious condition, a special medical incubator is used for this purpose, which is equipped with the car.
Types of transportation of immovable patients to another city
Transportation of disabled people from St. Petersburg to another city depends on the patient’s condition, namely:
- mild degree of severity - involves transporting a person without the need to provide additional medicine along the way, however, constant medical supervision and special stretchers are necessary;
- moderate severity - provides for compliance with the recommendations and requirements of the attending physician on the road, mandatory preventive measures and constant monitoring of the patient’s condition;
- high severity - requires a special approach, which includes symptomatic therapeutic measures, continuous monitoring of important vital functions of the body; Such a patient is necessarily accompanied by a team of resuscitators who maintain the patient’s vitality at the most optimal level in a particular case.
