Transport Nurse

Transport Nurse

A transport nurse is a type of nurse who administers medical care to patients transported to healthcare facilities – usually hospitals. Transport nurses that work on the ground typically work in ambulances, while flight nurses typically work aboard medical transport aircraft. They may transport patients experiencing medical emergencies or accompany stable patients from one medical facility to another.
Transport Nurse

What Is a Transport Nurse?

In a medical emergency, the time it takes a patient to reach a well-equipped medical facility, along with the care he receives en route, could mean the difference between life and death. For this reason, skilled and qualified medical professionals need to be on hand while the patient is being transported.

The emergency medical services teams that accompany patients when they are being transferred typically include paramedics and transport nurses. These professionals work to transport patients on the surface and in the air.

Transport nursing is a fast-paced and challenging career. Not only will you be responsible for administering medical care, but you will have to do so in confined spaces and limited supplies while on the move. You will also usually attend to patients suffering from medical emergencies, such as heart attacks and accident victims. As a transport nurse, you will need to assess the conditions and needs of your patients quickly and accurately. Oftentimes, your patients’ lives in your hands, so you must also be able to react and make decisions at lightning speed.

Effective communication skills are essential if you’re looking to become a transport nurse. This career requires you to constantly communicate with your team and your patients, and other medical professionals such as physicians.

What Does a Transport Nurse Do?

The main goal of all transport nurses is to ensure that patients reach their destinations quickly and safely. En route to these destinations, you may be required to perform various emergency and non-emergency medical procedures.

In medical emergencies, the first goal of a transport nurse and her team is to assess a patient and determine what sort of treatment they will need while being transported. Many times, transport nurses will work to ensure that patients are being stabilized during the trip. Stabilizing a patient typically involves working to ensure that any hemorrhaging is stopped and vital signs are in safe ranges. During emergencies, transport nurses are expected to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation‎, intubation, defibrillator, and tracheotomies.

Transport nurses are also usually present during routine patient transfers. When patients are transferred from one medical facility to another, they are better equipped to deal with their condition. During these trips, transport nurses and their teams are usually required to monitor patients and possibly administer medical care as instructed by the transferring physician. They might need to perform more routine procedures, such as administering medications and monitoring vital signs. When they arrive at their destinations, they will also be responsible for transferring their patients’ medical records and updating the receiving medical facilities of their patients’ conditions.

Where Do Transport Nurses Work?

Transport nurses help people with illnesses get to and from healthcare facilities. They fulfill a number of roles in the healthcare team, such as transporting patients to and from surgeries at hospitals. They also help transport patients between care facilities, such as nursing homes or rehabilitation centers when they cannot be moved on their own. Transport nurses are not only tasked with patient transportation; they often serve as caregivers for the time that patients are at remote locations. In some cases, they may be responsible for hand-feeding a patient when their appetite has been compromised due to illness or medical treatment.

The most frequent place of employment for a transport nurse is in the healthcare facility where the patient is receiving medical treatment. Employment can also be found in smaller facilities, such as rehabilitation centers or nursing homes, which do not have their own healthcare professionals. Nurses who work at these locations often provide transportation services for patients between two facilities located at different locations. Transport nurses are also employed by many hospices and funeral homes, where they provide transportation services for their families to attend funerals and memorial services.

You May Also Like