Bed to Dangle Position (Nursing)

00:04 Now let's take a look at the skill transferring from a bed to a chair. Now this is really commonly used with our patients this can be used from bed to a wheelchair or a bed to a bedside commode for example or just a bed to the chair so the patient can set up, you're going to use this quite often. Now before we transfer them, one skill we typically use is what we call dangling a patient so really all this means is this, sitting them or assisting a patient on the edge of the bed. Now just keep know anytime you hear dangle a patient, sometimes we actually use that post surgery as one of the first things they do right after surgery to promote circulation and lung improvement.

00:46 Now before we get started, what are you going to transfer them to? Are you using a chair? A bedside commode? or wheelchair? Make sure you get the appropriate equipment also the size just know that there's different sizes for chairs and wheelchairs for example and even bedside commodes so make sure one's comfortable for your patient. Next, make sure you use your gait belt because this is going to be really helpful in holding on to the patient and transferring them later.

01:13 Now before we get started don't forget your hand hygiene and provide privacy. Make sure you talk specifically about what you need the patient to do during the transfer.

01:24 Now for using a wheelchair this is really important make sure you put the brakes on the wheelchair if you're unfamiliar with doing this make sure you check this out before taking it to the patient's room so you can imagine if you transfer a patient to a moving wheelchair both that could injure not only you but also your patient.

01:44 Now if we're using a bedside commode or a chair we can also bring this close to the patient's bed so whatever you're transferring the patient to make sure it's as close as possible.

01:54 So before we get started make sure the patient has their non-slip socks or non-slip shoes on. This is going to help a lot for traction for your patient, now before we get started let's talk about how we dangle a patient. This is going to help a lot to transfer to the chair or wheelchair. So if you take a look at this image you want to assist the patient much like log rolling to their side laying on their side like you see here, you're going to take the patient and roll them towards you, now the closer to the edge of the bed they are, it's much more helpful for you and the patient. Now you may need to assist them to set up, let's show how you do this So what you're going to do is put one hand on the patient's shoulder and then you're going to take the other hand and put it behind the patient's knees so it's going to look a lot like this then we're going to take this position while the patient's pushing off the bed and make sure you instruct them to do so, we're going to use this momentum and swing them up like this in the sitting position so this is going to help quite a bit if you instruct your patient to push up while you swing them up. Now, assist the patient to scoot towards the edge of that bed and this is important that their feet can touch here so make sure they have their non-slip socks and make sure they can touch the ground at this point because we definitely need to do this to transfer to the wheelchair.

03:21 Welcome to how to tangle a patient at bedside, well you may wonder what I'm doing sitting here in this bed but I'm going to be the patient for you today so when you hear the word dangle you may wonder what that even means when we're talking about dangling this is actually really helpful post-operative or post-surgery intervention so typically all that means is we're going to have the patient sit at the bedside, sit at the edge of the bed and dangle their feet over or just sitting at the edge of the bed. So this is actually used as an intervention to help post-op with lung capacity and making sure those patients long stay clear and strong. We also may use the dangle maneuver if the patient needs to get up to go to the bathroom for example or if we need to take the patient from the, excuse me, the bed to a wheelchair or to a bedside commode so you're going to use this maneuver quite a bit.

04:13 So I'm going to play your patient today and so I'm going to show you how that we're going to do that. So one thing before you get a patient up, make sure you have non-slip socks on or non-slip footwear. This is really important because many of the times when a patient steps on the floor they may slide and they could fall and so make sure your patient has the appropriate footwear first.

04:35 So now I'm going to step back and as the patient many times they're laying in the bed and as much as the patient can help you the better also one pro tip here if you use the bed that's going to help a lot so you notice we've raised the head of the bed here and that's much easier for getting me up than it would be from me trying to push off from the flat surface so use your bed and help you there so I've got the head of bed up and now I'm going to assist to roll to my side towards Dean and Dean's going to be the one that's going to help dangle me today so now I'm rolling on my side and some patients may need assistance but a lot of the times when you're dangling a patient the patient can help you. So now I'm going to go to my side and now when he's ready D. an's going to put his arm or his hand underneath my shoulder, he's going to put another hand underneath my knees and see how he's in a squat position and with when one movement he's going to instruct me when he's ready for me, he's going to use that momentum to set me up and I'm also going to use my hand and push off the bed. Are you ready? I'm going to push you up on a count of three. Okay, here we go, one, two, three. All right, thank you Dean. Okay, so now that I'm setting up I can dangle my legs. Now if need be if I need to go towards the edge of the bed, Dean can assist me to or I can scoot to the edge of the bed for ready for transfer.