Nurses and clinicians should follow these tips to avoid injuries during patients transfers.
Have you or any co-workers ever been inadvertently injured while transferring a patient?
As we celebrate Nurses Week 2017 and this year's theme of ‘Nursing: The Balance of Mind, Body, and Spirit,’ it's important to focus on working smart to avoid getting hurt on the job.
Nursing professionals and other caregivers responsible for patient transfers have reported more musculoskeletal injuries than workers in other jobs requiring manual labor. In 2011, the American Nurses Association (ANA) reported that 38% of nurses experienced back injuries severe enough to require taking time off work to recover. Estimates of the costs of lost work time range widely, from $29 million to $1.7 billion nationwide.
In part because of these statistics, the ANA and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have made a concerted effort to encourage the creation of lift teams and to promote “zero” manual lifting to reduce the risk of low back injuries from patient handling. This recommendation is based on the premise that assistive devices reduce a caregiver's risk of injury.