How Our Patient Transport Service Maintains Safety During Each Trip

The process of moving patients between their homes and medical facilities may come with some degree of risk. There could be potential hazards stemming from the nature of the patient’s ailment, the distance between medical facilities or homes, or the qualification of accompanying patient transport service personnel.

If you are aware of these risks, you will know that safety should be a top priority for you while you are using a non-emergency transport service. You will undoubtedly want to know what steps an agency takes to ensure the safety of patients.

Here are some things that medical transport companies do to ensure that their journeys are completed without any significant trouble.

1. Skilled Drivers

Non-emergency transport companies will ensure that their drivers are competent, appropriately licensed, and have a good driving record. Companies also conduct training programs for their drivers that enable them to respond effectively to emergencies and overall patient care.

2. Appropriate Vehicles

Taking a trip with a vehicle that isn’t adequately maintained, jeopardizes the safety of patients. Medical transport companies, like every other transport service, will usually carry out routine maintenance checks on their vehicles to ensure that they are in the best, possible condition.
The vehicles used by patient transport companies are equipped with wheelchair lifts and ramps to allow wheelchair passengers to get into the vehicle.

3. Patient Props and Safety Kits

To ensure the safety of patients who are physically disabled due to illness or injury, non-emergency patient transport services provide supporting equipment such as stretchers, wheelchairs, and gurneys. The transporting vehicle should also have fire extinguishers that can be used if a fire incident occurs.

Before trips commence, all safety props are checked to ascertain that they are not damaged.

4. Avoid Long Delays In Transfer

Long delays during the transfer of a patient to a facility or from one treatment center to another can cause them to miss their scheduled appointments.

Apart from potential hitches on the road, delays in transfer could happen when information like patients’ test results or availability of bed space by a hospital is not processed or passed on quickly enough.
To curb the incidence of long delays in conveying patients, medical transport service providers should insist on the use of efficient communication technology as standard procedure in working with health centers.

5. Use Appropriate Medical Transport

Ideally, patient transport agencies also try to ensure the safety of patients during trips by providing them with Ambulance Care Assistants. Service providers may determine the appropriate kind of escort for patients’ needs based on the information given by the medical facility initiating a transfer.

If you know the measures your medical transporter should take to guarantee their patient’s safety, you will be able to tell when they are (or are not) doing those things. This knowledge should influence your decision as to which service provider with whom you choose to work. Ultimately, it could reduce the risk of an accident or other negative occurrences before, during, and after trips.