Results of Last Month's Poll Question

What impact do you feel the current economic down-turn will have on safe patient handling and caregiver injury prevention programs?

Click here to read results and comments.

Factoids in the News...

Now that we've completed our third year of publication, here are some interesting "factoids" based on reader response:

• Most popular article requested: Article Series – "Safe Lifting Practices for Nurses" (reprinted from American Nurse Today)
• Most popular tool requested: Poster – "Seven Deadly Sins of Unsafe Lifting"
• Highest rate of reader participation: Monthly Column – "The Lift Doctor"
• Most popular package requested: Safe Lifting Starter Kit

Top 10 Most Popular Stories:

• Sep-07 "Survey of Patient Mobility and Lift Technologies: Toward Advancements and Standards" (National Institute of Standards and Technology Internal Report)
• Aug-08 "Link between Safe Patient Handling and Patient Outcomes in Long Term Care"
• Sep-08 "Guidelines for Nursing Homes – Ergonomics for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders" (OSHA)
• Oct-08 "Back Injury Prevention" (Texas Division of Workers' Compensation)
• May-08 "Safe Patient Handling – A Worthy Investment" (Oregon OSHA)
• Jun-08 "A System-based Approach to Safe Patient Handling" (Ascension SmartMoves)
• Dec-08 "Coming to a Hospital Near You – Safe Patient Handling" (Indian Health Service)
• Jan-08 "Assessment Tools and Guidelines" Hot Topics Compendium)
• May-07 "OnLine Learning"
• Nov-08 "Preventing Back Injuries in Healthcare Settings" (NIOSH Science Blog)
• Jul-08 "Lift Team Prevents Staff/Patient Injuries, Saves Money" (OSF Saint Francis)

Click here to visit the archive of previous Safe Lifting News issues

From the Reading Room

Complex admission and discharge situations – bariatric patients (UK)

The UK's Health & Safety Executive recently published research aimed at exploring risk assessment and bariatric care pathways with particular emphasis on admission and discharge of bariatric patients. This article presents three different case studies for comparison, and describes one admission and two discharges from a hospital.

Cookson K. (2008)
Column 20.3 Winter 2008 pages 8-11 ISBN1461-0922

Click here to download the article.

Reproduced by permission of National Back Exchange who hold the copyright.

Obesity, Disability, and Nursing Home Admission

The U.S. long-term care (LTC) system is faced with potentially greater demand for services as the population ages. There are several new challenges that the LTC system may face due to the increasing prevalence of obesity in older Americans. In order to prepare for these challenges, nursing homes should begin considering the impact of obesity on the delivery of quality care in their facilities

Recognizing Trends in Preventing Caregiver Injury, Promoting Patient Safety, and Caring for the Larger, Heavier Patient.

Safe patient handling across the entire continuum of care is a particularly important consideration when dealing with bariatric patients. This informative article examines a comprehensive safe patient handling strategy that includes assessment, administrative support, on-unit safe patient handling mentoring, specialized equipment, training, policies, and procedures. Read the article here.