Old Fashion Medical Table Witth Staps

Equipment for moving patients in need of medical care

EMTs using a stretcher in 2001.

Armed escort carries the wounded to the Senegalese edge, Republic of guinea-bissau, 1974.

A stretcher, gurney, litter, or pram ^[ane] is an apparatus used for moving patients who require medical care. A bones type (cot or litter) must exist carried by two or more people. A wheeled stretcher (known equally a gurney, trolley, bed or cart) is often equipped with variable height frames, wheels, tracks, or skids. Stretchers are primarily used in acute out-of-hospital care situations by emergency medical services (EMS), military, and search and rescue personnel. In medical forensics the right arm of a corpse is left hanging off the stretcher to allow paramedics know it is not a wounded patient. They are likewise used to concord prisoners during lethal injections in the United States.^[2]

History [edit]

Illustration of chair stretcher, "On the Transport of ill and wounded troops", 1868.

A wounded knight is carried on a medieval stretcher.

An early stretcher, likely made of wicker over a frame, appears in a manuscript from c.1380.^[3] Simple stretchers were mutual with militaries right through the middle of the 20th century.^[iv]

Gurney [edit]

Mostly spelled gurney, simply likewise guerney or girney.^[5] The first usage of the term for a wheeled stretcher is unclear, just it is believed to have been derived from Pacific Coast slang.^[6] Its utilize in a infirmary context was established past the 1930s.^[7] ^[viii]

Classification [edit]

A simple stretcher used by U.S. Marines in a training surround in Dec 2003.

Ems stretchers used in ambulances have wheels that makes transportation over pavement easier, and take a lock inside the ambulance and straps to secure the patient during transport. An integral lug on the stretcher locks into a sprung latch within the ambulance in lodge to foreclose motion during transport. Mod stretchers may besides accept bombardment-powered hydraulics to enhance and collapse the legs automatically. This eases the workload on European monetary system personnel, who are statistically at high adventure of back injury from repetitive raising and lowering of patients. Specialized bariatric stretchers are too available, which feature a wider frame and higher weight capacity for heavier patients. Stretchers are usually covered with a disposable sheet or wrapping, and are cleaned later on each use to prevent the spread of infection. Shelves, hooks and poles for medical equipment and intravenous medication are also frequently included.

Standard stretchers have several adjustments. The bed can be raised or lowered to facilitate patient transfer. The head of the stretcher tin be raised and then that the patient is in a sitting position (especially important for those in respiratory distress) or lowered flat in order to perform CPR, or for patients with suspected spinal injury who must be transported on a spinal board. The anxiety can be raised to what is called the Trendelenburg position, indicated for patients in shock.

Some manufacturers have begun to offer hybrid devices that combine the functionality of a stretcher, a recliner chair, and a treatment or procedural table into one device.^[9]

Basic stretchers [edit]

Simple stretchers are the about rudimentary type. They are lightweight and portable, made of canvas or other synthetic material suspended between 2 poles or tubular aluminum frame. Many are stored as disaster supplies and are frequently former armed forces equipment.
The folding stretcher, also known as a top deck or collapsible stretcher, is similar in pattern to the unproblematic stretcher, but features ane or more hinged points of joint to allow the stretcher to exist collapsed into a more than meaty form for easier handling or storage. Some models may even allow the patient to sit upright in a Fowler's or Semi-Fowler's position.
The Roberson orthopedic stretcher or scoop stretcher is used for lifting patients, for instance from the ground onto an ambulance stretcher or onto a spinal board. The two ends of the stretcher can exist discrete from each other, splitting the stretcher into two longitudinal halves. To load a patient, 1 or both ends of the stretcher are discrete, the halves placed nether the patient from either side and attached dorsum together. With obese patients, the possibility exists of accidentally pinching the patient'southward back when closing the stretcher, and so care must be fabricated not to injure them when carrying out this procedure.
The litter, too known every bit a rescue basket or Stokes basket, is designed to exist used where at that place are obstacles to motion or other hazards: for example, in bars spaces, on slopes, in wooded terrain. Typically it is shaped to accommodate an adult in a face up position and it is used in search and rescue operations. The person is strapped into the basket, making prophylactic evacuation possible. The litter has raised sides and often includes a removable head/torso embrace for patient protection. Subsequently the person is secured in the litter, the litter may be wheeled, carried past hand, mounted on an ATV, towed behind skis, snowmobile, or horse, lifted or lowered on loftier angle ropes, or hoisted by helicopter.
A Reeves Sleeve, SKED, or "flexible stretcher" is a flexible stretcher that is oft supported longitudinally by wooden or plastic planks. It is a kind of tarpaulin with handles. It is primarily used to motion a patient through confined spaces, east.thousand., a narrow hallway, or to elevator obese patients. Reeves stretchers have vi handholds, assuasive multiple rescuers to assist extrication.^[10]
The WauK board is likewise designed for use in small spaces. The patient is secured to the board with straps. It has two wheels and a foldable footrest at one end, allowing the patient to exist moved by one person, much as with a hand truck for moving cargo. It can as well exist used at a variety of angles, making it easier to traverse obstacles, such as tight stairwells.^[xi]

Wheeled stretchers [edit]

For ambulances, a collapsible wheeled stretcher, or gurney, is a type of stretcher on a variable-acme wheeled frame. Normally, an integral lug on the stretcher locks into a sprung latch inside the ambulance in lodge to forbid movement during transport, often referred to as antlers due to their shape. It is usually covered with a dispensable sheet and cleaned later on each patient in order to prevent the spread of infection. Its key value is to facilitate moving the patient and sail onto a fixed bed or table on arrival at the emergency department. Both types may have straps to secure the patient.

Other types of stretchers [edit]

The Nimier stretcher (brancard Nimier) was a type of stretcher used by the French ground forces during Globe War I. The casualty was placed on their back, but in a "seated position", (that is, the thighs were perpendicular to the abdomen). Thus, the stretcher was shorter and could turn in the trenches. This blazon of stretcher is rarely seen today.

See too [edit]

Battlefield medicine
Army camp bed
Casualty motion
Infirmary bed
Litter (rescue basket)
Spinal board
Trolley (disambiguation)

References [edit]

^ Morehead, Philip D. (July 2002). Stretcher. New American Roget's College Thesaurus in Dictionary Form. ISBN9781101220085.
^ "A Cursory History of Lethal Injection". TIME.com. x November 2009. Archived from the original on June 26, 2008.
^ Valère-Maxime, Facta et Dicta memorabilia traduction françaiseSimon de Hesdin (Livres I-IV). 1375.
^ http://www.mountain.rescue.org.uk/assets/files/The%20Oracle/Equipment/Stretchers.pdf^{[ dead link ]}
^ Normand Louis Hoerr, ed. (1956). New Gould Medical Lexicon . Arthur Osol (2 ed.). New York: Blakiston Sectionalisation, McGraw-Hill.
^ "Guerney". Railroad vehicle Monthly. Philadelphia: Ware Brothers Publishing. 40: 140. April 1904. OCLC 2448762. The Guerney is a wrinkle of the Guerney cab. patented past J. T. Guerney, Boston, Mass., and in modified form is now considerably used. Many vehicles on the Pacific Coast are termed "guerneys," though they are anything else.
^ "Section 2". Hospital Management. Clissold Publishing Company. xi: 47. 1921. The base of the ordinary nutrient and laundry gurney is used
^ "Stolen Hospital Guerney is Found". Oakland Tribune. Beginnings.com#Newspapers.com. 11 January 1935.
^ "Stretcher Chairs and Medical Supplies". transmotionmedical.com.
^ "Stretchers Immobilization, Reeves Sleeve Ii, 122 & Dragable, Reeves Flexible Stretcher 101 & 103– Reeves European monetary system". world wide web.reevesems.com . Retrieved iv Apr 2018.
^ "the WauK board". Archived from the original on 2017-07-07. Retrieved 2014-04-06 .