gurney

/ˈgʌrni/

/ˈgʌni/

Other forms: gurneys

A gurney is a device used to move a patient who can't easily walk and needs to lie flat. Unlike a stretcher, a gurney has wheels so that it doesn't need to be carried.

When an EMT transports a patient from an ambulance into a hospital emergency room, she uses a gurney. Patients with back injuries often require a gurney so that they can be moved safely, and you might find yourself on a gurney if you need any kind of surgery that calls for general anesthesia. When this word first appeared in the 1920s, it referred to hospital carts used to transport food and laundry.

Definitions of gurney

1. noun

   a metal stretcher with wheels
   type of:

   stretcher

   a litter for transporting people who are ill or wounded or dead; usually consists of a sheet of canvas stretched between two poles