Front-line health care workers like nurses experience injury rates comparable to the building trades. Back injuries are especially prominent, particularly for those who work in care facilities like hospitals, nursing homes and long-term care. In fact, in 2004, the National Organization of Nurse Executives reported that, in the previous year, 31% of registered nurses had experienced a work-related back or musculoskeletal injury.
The reason for the high rate of back injury is clear: Unsafe moving and handling practices. Moving someone without following the principles of good body mechanics and without the appropriate equipment puts your back at risk.
But back injuries from unsafe moving and handling practices are still happening. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, over 60% of nursing strain and sprain injuries are the result of unsafe patient moving and handling.
Musculoskeletal problems can be career ending. As health care professionals know. 12% of nurses leave the profession because of back injury, while 52% complain of chronic back pain – a leading contributor to mid-career departure.
And there are no quick fixes. The right lifting and re-positioning equipment can help reduce injuries, but having the proper equipment is not enough. Staff must be trained to use that equipment properly. Safe Patient Handling ultimately comes down to proper body mechanics – ensuring that, when moving a client, staff remain in a position of strength at all times.
Injuries take a huge toll on health care facilities and institutions. A facility neglecting to implement a program to handle its clients safely and with dignity risks increased costs, from compensation to insurance premiums and the expenses associated with medical treatment.
Injuries also result in indirect costs. These include replacing skilled employees, training and supervising new employees, lowered staff morale and the adverse effects of breaking up long-standing work teams.
As well, staff injuries mean a heavier work-load for administrative staff and increase the amount of overtime a facility needs to allocate to cover for injured employees.
According to the Fraser Health Authority in British Columbia, the institutional use of lift equipment and the introduction of Safe Patient Handling practices are proven to decrease the overall number of worker’s compensation claims by 46%, the costs associated with that compensation decreases by 80%, and the total number of lost days by 80%.
A cost-benefit analysis performed by the Department of Veterans Affairs showed that the net benefits from the lowered incidence and severity of injuries and decreased workers’ compensation claims was $200,000 per year. This same study also found that the payback period for an initial investment in patient handling equipment was 4.3 years.
An institution which neglects to train its staff on good body mechanics, install the appropriate equipment and put programs in place to enforce compliance, deserves the dismal safety record which will undoubtedly result.
A reputation for safety and best practice is earned and it is impossible to overstate the importance of having a well-designed safe patient handling program in your institution.
Yet, despite the human, institutional and financial cost injuries extract, many health care facilities and institutions still have not implemented safe patient handling and transitioning procedures. As a consequence, health care professionals are moving their clients or patients without following the principles of good body mechanics. And they are getting hurt.
At Prism Medical, we can help you devise a safe moving and handling program, combining the appropriate equipment and training, focused on the principles of good body mechanics. The kind of help we offer not only reduces costs, it saves careers.