Guest guest Posted January 25, 1999 Report Share Posted January 25, 1999 We are currently remodeling an area of the hospital for a satellite clinic forRehab services (OT, PT primarily). Our dilemma: We had planned to move our Hubbard down to that floor because we badly need a conference room on the main Rehab floor. The cost is significant. The irony of the situation is we have done 2 units of Hubbard in the last 18 months! Most of all of our hydrotherapy is being done using PulsaVac. How many departments out there are still using a Hubbard Tank, or have gotten rid of one for the same reasons? If you dumped it, what was physician reaction? (When we got rid of the old tank on the other campus, one doc immediately wanted us to buy another one. We never did, and it was never again an issue.) What alternatives have you come up with for those rare occasions, when a larger tank may be truly needed? Appreciate your input. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 1999 Report Share Posted January 25, 1999 We recently dumped our Hubbard Tank after a review showed that we had less than 4 uses in the past 3 years. The hospital was looking to expand another service and guess who was told that they had too much space? The reality is that the tank hadn't been a viable treatment tool in some time, because the hospital was using different wound care protocols that did not include whirlpool or hubbard tank for debridement. Those docs who think that " whirlpool heals wounds " are still around but in six months they haven't noticed that the tank is gone. And to tell the truth neither have we. L. Gessner,PT Chief Physical Therapist South Nassau Communities Hospital Oceanside, New York ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 1999 Report Share Posted January 25, 1999 We use the long tubs they have down on the unit in the bath houses. We use power spray for most of the hip and sacral wounds and get very good results. We never used the tubs for exercise so the long tubs work fine. Kay Schafer PT Rehab MGR Knox Village > Hubbard Tank usage > > We are currently remodeling an area of the hospital for a satellite clinic > forRehab services (OT, PT primarily). Our dilemma: > We had planned to move our Hubbard down to that floor because we badly > need a conference room on the main Rehab floor. The cost is significant. > The irony of the situation is we have done 2 units of Hubbard in the last > 18 months! Most of all of our hydrotherapy is being done using PulsaVac. > How many departments out there are still using a Hubbard Tank, or have > gotten rid of one for the same reasons? If you dumped it, what was > physician reaction? (When we got rid of the old tank on the other campus, > one doc immediately wanted us to buy another one. We never did, and it > was never again an issue.) What alternatives have you come up with for > those rare occasions, when a larger tank may be truly needed? Appreciate > your input. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 1999 Report Share Posted January 25, 1999 We faced the exact same situation about 7 years ago. It became an opportunity to educate physicians about best practices. Nobody missed it a month after it went away. > Hubbard Tank usage > > We are currently remodeling an area of the hospital for a satellite clinic > forRehab services (OT, PT primarily). Our dilemma: > We had planned to move our Hubbard down to that floor because we badly > need a conference room on the main Rehab floor. The cost is significant. > The irony of the situation is we have done 2 units of Hubbard in the last > 18 months! Most of all of our hydrotherapy is being done using PulsaVac. > How many departments out there are still using a Hubbard Tank, or have > gotten rid of one for the same reasons? If you dumped it, what was > physician reaction? (When we got rid of the old tank on the other campus, > one doc immediately wanted us to buy another one. We never did, and it > was never again an issue.) What alternatives have you come up with for > those rare occasions, when a larger tank may be truly needed? Appreciate > your input. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 1999 Report Share Posted January 25, 1999 We also got rid of our Hubbard, not for lack of use as much as for lack of space and the time restraints of getting patients in and out of the tank. We are now using the ARJO Sonata with the full patient lift. One of our techs takes the lift up to the patient's room and transfers them directly onto the lift. That one tech then transports the patient to the department and simply lowers the patient into the tank. After the whirlpool the lift is raised out of the tank, wound care is performed by the PT and then the tech transports the patient back up to their bed. One transfer onto the lift and one transfer off of the lift. This has decreased time required and the ARJO tank is significantly smaller than our Hubbard. Hutchins, PT Manager HealthSouth Rehab. Hospital Oklahoma City At 02:43 PM 1/25/99 -0600, you wrote: >We are currently remodeling an area of the hospital for a satellite clinic forRehab services (OT, PT primarily). Our dilemma: >We had planned to move our Hubbard down to that floor because we badly need a conference room on the main Rehab floor. The cost is significant. The irony of the situation is we have done 2 units of Hubbard in the last 18 months! Most of all of our hydrotherapy is being done using PulsaVac. How many departments out there are still using a Hubbard Tank, or have gotten rid of one for the same reasons? If you dumped it, what was physician reaction? (When we got rid of the old tank on the other campus, one doc immediately wanted us to buy another one. We never did, and it was never again an issue.) What alternatives have you come up with for those rare occasions, when a larger tank may be truly needed? Appreciate your input. > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 26, 1999 Report Share Posted January 26, 1999 Hi Carol - There are many places that have done away with their hubbard tanks because of low utilization. However, you need to look at the patient populations, impairments, surgical practice, PT practice. Because Jefferson Hospital in Phila is a large university teaching hospital with a large trauma program and is a regional spinal cord injury center, we decided to retain our hubbard tank. The plastic surgeons were very supportive of the wound care given by the therapists. The hubbard was used primarily for lavage followed by manual debridement by the therapists. One aide handled all of the patient preparation, etc. While many have done away with them, look at your practice setting and your clients. If it is an old hang-on, nix it. If it meets a need and is a good (yet expensive) way to market your skilled services, think twice. Sinnott ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 26, 1999 Report Share Posted January 26, 1999 I was not here in our department when we got rid of our Hubbard so I don't know what the initial reaction was, but our replacement has been a full-immersion tank. It's like a large bathtub that raises and lowers so the therapist can perform debridement, etc. using good body mechanics. It takes up much less space and is rarely used due to the increased use of pulsed lavage, but it's there if we need it. Ferno Ille Model No. 990 DW 1- Good Luck! >>> " Carol Rehder " 01/25 3:43 PM >>> We are currently remodeling an area of the hospital for a satellite clinic forRehab services (OT, PT primarily). Our dilemma: We had planned to move our Hubbard down to that floor because we badly need a conference room on the main Rehab floor. The cost is significant. The irony of the situation is we have done 2 units of Hubbard in the last 18 months! Most of all of our hydrotherapy is being done using PulsaVac. How many departments out there are still using a Hubbard Tank, or have gotten rid of one for the same reasons? If you dumped it, what was physician reaction? (When we got rid of the old tank on the other campus, one doc immediately wanted us to buy another one. We never did, and it was never again an issue.) What alternatives have you come up with for those rare occasions, when a larger tank may be truly needed? Appreciate your input. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 26, 1999 Report Share Posted January 26, 1999 We recently remodeled our wound care area and did away with 95% of our whirlpools, including the hubbard tank. We use pulsovac exclusively. This was strongly supported by physicians who have seen the overwhelming improvement in wound management with pulsatile lavage. T Hubbard Tank usage We are currently remodeling an area of the hospital for a satellite clinic forRehab services (OT, PT primarily). Our dilemma: We had planned to move our Hubbard down to that floor because we badly need a conference room on the main Rehab floor. The cost is significant. The irony of the situation is we have done 2 units of Hubbard in the last 18 months! Most of all of our hydrotherapy is being done using PulsaVac. How many departments out there are still using a Hubbard Tank, or have gotten rid of one for the same reasons? If you dumped it, what was physician reaction? (When we got rid of the old tank on the other campus, one doc immediately wanted us to buy another one. We never did, and it was never again an issue.) What alternatives have you come up with for those rare occasions, when a larger tank may be truly needed? Appreciate your input. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 26, 1999 Report Share Posted January 26, 1999 We got rid of our Hubbard tank years ago and the doc's didn't mind when we told them the cost of a treatment was well over $300. We do have an ARJO tub tank with a bed which lowers for the VERY rare occasions when we need a full body tank. We also use a Pulsavac and we have a couple of smaller limb tanks, one of which is large enough to sit someone in if we need to. wrote: Original Article: /list/ptmanager/?start=3011 > We recently remodeled our wound care area and did away with 95% of our whirlpools, including the hubbard tank. We use pulsovac exclusively. This was strongly supported by physicians who have seen the overwhelming improvement in wound management with pulsatile lavage. > T > > Hubbard Tank usage > > We are currently remodeling an area of the hospital for a satellite clinic forRehab services (OT, PT primarily). Our dilemma: > We had planned to move our Hubbard down to that floor because we badly need a conference room on the main Rehab floor. The cost is significant. The irony of the situation is we have done 2 units of Hubbard in the last 18 months! Most of all of our hydrotherapy is being done using PulsaVac. How many departments out there are still using a Hubbard Tank, or have gotten rid of one for the same reasons? If you dumped it, what was physician reaction? (When we got rid of the old tank on the other campus, one doc immediately wanted us to buy another one. We never did, and it was never again an issue.) What alternatives have you come up with for those rare occasions, when a larger tank may be truly needed? Appreciate your input. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 30, 1999 Report Share Posted January 30, 1999 We removed our Hubbard tank about 18 months during remodeling of our rehab area at Christiana Hospital - 500 bed facility near Wilmington, DE. I expected physician reaction but got none. We still use our small tanks at times. Pulsavac is being used more now for difficult wounds. We use our low boy tank sporadicly and are looking into a small ARJO unit with a lift to replace the low boy tank. Physician education is a daily task on wound care protocols. Ironically we had moved the Hubbard tank at great expense in 1985 when we moved into the new facility. Records indicated it was installed in 1952, but the stainless steel was much more durable than the modern plastic turbines! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 1, 1999 Report Share Posted February 1, 1999 We got rid of our full-body tank when we moved our department from the first to the fifth floor over 5 years ago. We found that any wounds which we would have treated in that tank were more quickly and comfortably (for the patient) treated with Pulsavac. The only doctor who complained was one who wanted his knee surgery patients (about 2 per year) put in the tank for AROM exercises. We explained and he relented. Since the move we have not missed the tank at all. The only reason I can think of to use it would be extensive burns or trauma and we don't have that sort of patient here. Hope this is helpful. Deering Rush North Shore Medical Center Skokie IL ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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