
			November 2009

Dear Subscriber,

Welcome to the latest Issue of Safe Lifting News. Our mission is to keep you informed about what's happening in the world of safe patient lifting and caregiver injury prevention.

Please consider participating in our Safe Lifting Poll, below... and we always encourage our readers to submit questions for our popular column, "Ask the Lift Doctor." Just use the link below. And thanks for your ideas and feedback, we truly appreciate your interest and participation!

Sincerely,

Melissa Nowitz
Editor in Chief
888-545-6671
Melissa.nowitz@hill-rom.com

Lift Doctor Booklet Now Back in Stock

Our popular booklet entitled “Ask the Lift Doctor – Real World Questions and Answers about Safe Lifting,” has recently been updated and reprinted. It’s now 90 pages in length and is available free of charge simply by filling out the request form here.

Take our November Poll

What role should the physician play in safe patient handling and caregiver injury prevention? Click here to respond.

New Senate Bill Seeks to Eliminate Manual Patient Lifting

A new Senate bill introduced by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) will seek to protect the health and well-being of RNs in hospitals and other health care facilities. It will also ensure patients get the care they need and are transported and moved in the safest way possible. The Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2009 (S. 1788)is virtually identical to the House bill and requires OSHA to develop and implement a standard to eliminate, to the greatest degree feasible based on technological and medical considerations, manual lifting of patients by direct-care registered nurses and other health care workers through the use of mechanical devices. The legislation also requires health care facilities to develop a plan to comply with the standard (with input from RNs), provides protection for RNs through refusal of assignment and whistleblower provisions, and requires the Secretary of Labor to perform compliance audits.

Poll Archive announcement

Effective with this issue of Safe Lifting News, we have instituted an archive for the poll questions that have been published in the past. To visit this new section, click here.

From the Reading Room

Nurses Open to Idea of Robots

A Norwegian study concludes that front-line staff in the nursing and care sector would welcome sensor and robot technology in nursing homes and the homes of elderly people. The survey found that staff regard cleaning, moving, and lifting patients as potential applications for “care and nursing robots”. They also concluded that the development and introduction of new technology should take place in such a way that the level of social support that they provide will be maintained, or preferably, be improved.

Together Everyone Achieves Mobility Safely (T.E.A.M.S)

T.E.A.M.S. advances John Dempsey Hospital's goal of becoming the safest hospital in Connecticut. The highest degree of patient and employee safety within the task of patient handling is achieved through the development, implementation and monitoring of a uniform patient handling program.

Work Injury Prevention when Working with Bariatric Clients

A steep increase in the number of bariatric clients in the Quebec health care system has required the implementation of special measures to provide quality care, while at the same time, preventing staff work injuries. A team of consultants was formed to conduct a field study on this issue, leading to the publication of a special report in the journal, "Objectif Prévention." The report puts forward a series of proposals on room and equipment design, admissions procedures, and working tools and methods to help health care facilities prepare to meet the specific needs of these clients.

Expanded Occupational Safety and Health Administration 300 log as metric for bariatric patient-handling staff injuries

Recent analyses reveal that during 2007, although patients with a body mass index of ≥35 kg/m2 constituted <10% of our patient population, 29.8% of staff injuries related to patient handling were linked to working with a bariatric patient. Bariatric patient handling accounted for 27.9% of all lost workdays and 37.2% of all restricted workdays associated with patient handling. Registered nurses and nursing assistants accounted for 80% of the injuries related to bariatric patient handling. Turning and repositioning the patient in bed accounted for 31% of the injuries incurred. The E-OSHA 300 log narratives revealed that staff injuries associated with obese and nonobese patient handling were usually performed using biomechanics and not equipment. Read more here.

Occupational injuries among working women in Maryland

Last year, more than 9,000 women suffered workplace injuries in Maryland, according to Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH). On average for the past three years, women working in the private and municipal sectors accounted for 35% of the workers’ compensation injury claims reported to IWIF. But, for Maryland state employees, it’s much higher, with 53% of workers’ compensation injury claims coming from women. Females ages 40-49 filed the most claims, followed by females ages 50-59, according to the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Commission.

Ergonomics in Safe Patient Handling

According to this NIOSH presentation, “high-risk” tasks (transferring, bathing, dressing, feeding) are performed most often by nursing assistants, aides, and geriatric nursing personnel. Several studies have shown that compared to other health care workers, workers in these categories have the highest rates of work-related musculoskeletal injuries. Review the presentation here.

Using lifts with total hip and total knee patients

Are there any sit to stand or sling lifts that are safe to use on total hip or total knee patients that are fresh post-ops?

Lisa Clinton
St. Margaret's

Transfer devices for total lift patients

What is best device for bed to wheelchair and wheelchair to car transfers for a total lift patient?

Joe Schepis, OTR
University of Michigan

Repositioning a spinal cord patient who has slipped down in their wheelchair

How can a single caregiver safely reposition a dependent client who is poorly positioned or is slipping out of his wheelchair (spinal cord injured client)?

Sela L
FHA

*The Lift Doctor is actually a panel of clinical and bioengineering lift specialists at Liko