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Trial tests lift's capabilities
08/08/05
A specialist emergency response team has tested the processes it uses when a patient arrives or leaves the hospital by helicopter.
The exercise involved the emergency department triage nurse who receives the call from the pilot with an ETA, orderlies who organise the lift and trolley, the flight team consisting of a doctor and nurse who provide care and monitoring of patient, and, if necessary, security staff.
Tauranga Hospital's acting operations manager Julia Braid says the practice session was held to assess whether its processes are streamlined and to identify any changes that need to be made.
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A specialist emergency response team tests the new lift which links the hospital to the helipad at the Clarke St carpark
"The lift and bridge reduces valuable transport time by providing a safe direct route into the hospital so the patient has faster access to the care they need," she says. "A purpose-built trolley butts against the side of the helicopter, allowing us to slide the stretcher straight onto the top of it. This means there is no lifting and less manual handling required."
Julia says vehicles travelling at the front of the hospital need to be aware that the flight team may be accessing the lift or roadways and will need to give way to them.
The resiting of the helipad has led to changes in the processes used when critically ill patients arrive or leave for further treatment at a tertiary hospital. The location of the new helipad means reduced transport times for critically ill patients. Previously the TrustPower TECT rescue helicopter landed nearer the 17 th Ave end of Clarke St , at the St John Ambulance headquarters, requiring the patient to be transferred along 17 th Ave and Cameron Rd to the main hospital via ambulance.
"This added 20 to 30 minutes one way to the duration of the transfer for each patient," Julia says. "After the patient was transferred to the care of the hospital the air transport teams would then require an ambulance to return them and their equipment back to the helipad, tying up an ambulance for an average of 40 minutes for each landing."