Top Ten Responses in each category

Patient Safety Improves due to:

1. Both patient and staff are confident during transfer/mobilization activities, collaborative cooperation is enhanced.
2. Consistent culture...everyone expects that this standard will be met.
3. Less risk of injury to patients/staff during movement and keeping staff on due to decrease in staff injuries.
4. When patient lifts are used routinely all staff becomes more knowledgeable and confident in their use. Patient safety improves. The problem is not recognizing these patients’ needs quickly enough or obtaining special equipment and getting all staff using it consistently.
5. Patients less likely to fall or get injured during movement, and nursing staff less likely to sustain injury thus ensuring they are not taking time off due to the injury and able to support patient care through appropriate and safe staffing levels.
6. Less manual grabbing, pulling, pushing on patient.
7. Less chance of patient injury due to staff members possibly dropping the patient or pulling a patient’s shoulder out or other injury while trying to manually move the patient.
8. No pulling on arms and no chance to fall during the lift/transfer.
9. Both the patient and caregiver become more comfortable with the equipment and both know what to expect each time it is used.
10. Yes, but it only improves with consistent training.

Quality of Care Improves due to:

1. Optimal outcomes for both patient and caregiver.
2. Decrease in staff and patient injuries related to transfers/mobilizations.
3. Better techniques lead to safer transfers.
4. Mechanical lifts are more efficient and comfortable for the resident.
5. Patients are moved on a more regular basis, staff don't have to wait for a lot of extra hands to move a patient.
6. Many times if a patient is too hard to get up or change position in bed, the nurses and PT's will tend to be less timely in helping the patient. With the lifts and other aids, it makes it easier to mobilize the patient. Also, many of the staff have aching backs so they just don't want to move patients.
7. Nurses have the ability to be more compassionate in regard to minimizing pain during movement, not to mention ensuring the staff remain on duty rather than off due to injury. Staff injuries always affect quality of patient care.
8. The ability to get patients out of bed sooner and ambulating which improves circulation, skin integrity, and a quicker healing process. All this is included in a safe patient handling program.
9. Safety issues for both patients and caregivers, healthier caregivers that are at work instead of out on workers’ comp and can focus on patient care instead of aching backs.
10. Staff is more likely to be willing to get patients up if they are not afraid of injuring themselves or patients in the process. Patients are more willing to get up if they feel they can safely do so without fear of further injury or another fall.

View the graphs of the results here.