CARING WITH MINIMAL LIFTING

Caring With Minimal Lifting

Caring With Minimal Lifting

Introduction

To improve the safety of healthcare workers, a movement is gaining support in this country to limit the manual performance of high-risk patient care tasks. Many states have passed legislation-mandating policies aimed at protecting employees from injuries related to patient handling. Federal legislation has been proposed 3 times, each time moving farther along the process toward passage into law. This article describes the steps taken in the planning and implementation of a Safe Patient Handling/Minimal Lift Program in a 380-bed, licensed, not-for-profit, and east coast acute care hospital.

Discussion

The dimensions of the problem Transferring or lifting patients and awkward loads is normal and necessary throughout all of health care, whether in long term, acute, emergency, home care or supportive services. Some health care workers lift/transfer people who, temporarily or permanently, are not able to move themselves. Others daily lift/transfer heavy loads of laundry, supplies, equipment and other items necessary for the care of patients. Health care workers in patient care are confronted with the added risk of lifting/transferring some persons who are very heavy, some who are unpredictable, and some who demonstrate aggressive behavior. This, coupled with a high frequency of lifts/transfers, results in a serious high-risk situation where injury and fatigue from heavy exertion have become and remain an unwanted, but normal part of health care work. The Ontario Safety Association for Community and Health Care estimated that in 2004 in the hospital sector, 28% of lost time injuries were attributed to musculoskeletal disorders (which includes muscles, tendons, tendon sheaths, nerves, bursa, blood vessels, joints and ligaments) as a result of patient handling activities. In the same year, 33% of lost time injuries were attributed to musculoskeletal disorders as a result of non-patient handling activities, such as the moving of equipment and laundry bags. Simply stated, more than 167,000 work days were lost, translating to almost $150 million in WSIB premiums being paid by the health care industry. Lost time injuries occur when an employee sustains a work-related injury, which results in lost time from work past the day of the accident. (Stoddard, 1978)

The past ten years have seen an explosion of research, new work practices, new equipment and most importantly, a rapidly growing commitment to eliminate the problems associated with the lifting and transferring of patients. These efforts have led to the unavoidable conclusion that the only way to remove health care workers from this cycle of fatigue-injury increased vulnerability is to drastically reduce the amount of physical exertion required to lift/transfer people and objects in health care.

Who is at risk?

Anyone whose work involves handling patients with temporary or permanent mobility problems is at risk. In the context of this document this means all health care workers who may be involved in handling patients whether in hospitals, nursing homes, day care centers, in transit or the patient's own home. What can be done? All those who handle patients are covered by the Provisions of the Safety, Health and ...