Dictionary Definition
gurney n : a metal stretcher with wheels
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
Unknown. Possibly from Gurney cab, a type of horse-drawn cab on wheels named after Theodore Gurney, the US inventor credited with creating and patenting it in about 1883.Pronunciation
- Rhymes with: -ɜː(r)ni
Noun
- A stretcher having
wheeled legs.
- 2001, Joyce
Carol Oates, Middle
Age: A Romance, Fourth Estate, paperback edition, page 22
- Yet her vision has narrowed strangely (good, for she was in a medical facility, if she were having a hemorrhage or a stroke it could not be happening at a more convenient time) so that she was able to see little in the fluorescent-lit space except the man who lay motionless on a gurney beneath the strongest of the lights.
- 2005, Jeph
Jacques, Questionable
Content, Number 506: The Talk, Part 7
- I’m pretty sure I didn’t actively steer towards the tree, but… I don’t know. I just remember that wave of despair and then the EMTs pulling me out of the car and putting me on a gurney.
- 2001, Joyce
Carol Oates, Middle
Age: A Romance, Fourth Estate, paperback edition, page 22
Translations
a stretcher having wheeled legs
- Dutch: baar, draagbaar
- Finnish: pyörälliset paarit
Extensive Definition
A gurney, known as a trolley in British medical
context, is the U.S. term for a type of stretcher used in modern
hospitals and ambulances in developed areas.
A hospital gurney is a kind of narrow bed on a wheeled frame which may be
adjustable in height. For ambulances, a collapsible gurney is a
type of stretcher on a variable-height wheeled frame. It is usually
covered with a disposable sheet to aid in preventing infections.
The key value of which is to facilitate moving the patient and
sheet onto a fixed bed or table on arrival at the emergency
room. Both types may have straps to secure the patient.
The name gurney comes from its similarity to a
horse-drawn cab patented in the U.S. in 1883 by J.
Theodore Gurney. Advanced models of collapsible gurneys have a
lower frame that can fold up on contact with the rear deck of the
ambulance, and have a securing device that mates with a counterpart
inside the ambulance to keep it from moving during transport.
Shelves, hooks and poles for medical
equipment and intravenous medication are
also frequently included.
Gurneys in hospitals come in two types:
- Non-power assisted: Totally manually powered.
- Power assisted: Uses a small motor to help amplify your push energy. Usually used in bariatrics departments with heavy patients.