Need to transport a patient to another floor after report has been called? Here are some great tips to help facilitate a smooth and seamless transition to the new ward and new team
Don’t empty the bulging ‘about to give birth’ Foley bag
Leave the chart behind, tell them you will be right back with it, but have no intention of ever coming back
Utilize every single patient sticker and just leave an empty stickerless plastic page with outlines of where stickers used to be as a tease
Have all IV bags be completely dry with air in the lines
Transport with soiled sheets, preferable an old accident
Transport at 6:58 or 5 minutes before a plethora of medications are due
Transport right before x-ray, CT, or an MRI is ordered
Transport right before multiple lab orders are due. Hand over a collection of different colored blood tubes without paperwork, especially a T+C for 2 units
Wait for pain to become 10/10 before transporting. Take the route with the most bumps
State that your patient is stable on the phone and act surprised when the BP is 60/30 when you arrive
Accidently pull out the (ET tube, Central line, NG tube, IV, Foley, JP Drain, Chest tube, or any combination) while in route. Shrug shoulders with slight grin upon arrival
Place the patient’s head on the foot of the bed
Bend the power cord prongs to the bed so much that it can’t fit into a socket
Synchronize at least 6 IV pumps to alarm and beep upon arrival to the new room
Steal as many cables and monitors as you can grab from the accepting ward on your way out
Tangle monitor cables in slip knots and square knots as many times as you can. Try to get cables over and under patient. Bonus points for creating a barber pole look with the IVs up an extremity
Show up with several new infusions that weren’t mentioned in report like levophed or vasopressin
Alternatively bring an intubated patient when they were supposed to be extubated. Act surprised when a ventilator is not immediately available or ready to switch over from your Ambu bag and depleting oxygen E cylinder