[Nurses at Risk of Injury]

Nurses at Risk of Injury

Introduction

In any hospital or health care environment, moving and lifting patients, or heavy machineries and apparatus, is a common task of nursing care. This is a high-risk action that most nurses have to perform without taking into consideration the possible effect, resulted in causing severe back injuries. Occupational back injuries by the nursing staff are a major failure revelation in the healthcare industry. Nursing constantly rates high among the jobs with back pain and occupationally linked back injuries. There is a serious requirement of management programs and the risk control measures relevant to patient lifting and transferring experiences as an important component of the overall back injury risk control.

Discussion

The occupational injury suffered by the nurses and heath care practitioners, are the specific injuries such as back injuries mostly termed as work-related back pain (WRBP) and work-related low back pain (WRLBP), or in general, it is termed as, Musculoskeletal injuries or Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) (Carpenito, 2007).

Over the past few decades, effort is implemented to prevent MSD in nurses from occupational injuries. Authorities have focused on body practices and lifting technique. As the facts and figures on back injuries as well as other musculoskeletal injuries relevant to nursing practices of moving and lifting patients started to be gathered, it is proved that guidance in suitable body procedure has resulted unsuccessful to attain positive outcomes in avoiding back injuries (McKnzie,et.al. 2011).

. There are three classifications of administrative management to avoid injuries as no-lift strategies, ergonomic evaluation, and patient lifting teams. A no-lift policy is a managerial control that guarantees health practitioners that proper equipment for lifting will be available and safely main adjusted (Youngberg, 2012).

Current Work-safe OHS Policy

The safety, cleanliness and health of workplace is administrated by a framework of laws, regulations and execution codes which planned the responsibilities of employers and workers to make sure that protection is maintained at work (Forester, 2009).

The Occupational Health and Safety Act is the foundation of legislative and governmental actions to improve occupational health and safety.

They identify the behavior duties forced by the Act should be carried out, or recommend practical or administrative issues to maintain the Act, such as obliging licenses for particular actions, maintaining records, or informing definite matters (Youngberg, 2012).

Not each term in the legislation is described or evaluated in a detailed manner. In some case, different situations appear which could potentially influence the study ...