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Caregivers' Products
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“No Lift” for Nursing Home Safety |
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What do the following professions have in common? An industrial manufacturing plant, concrete and masonry craftsmen, those operating heavy equipment, and a nursing home.
The answer, they all have high rates of back injury from job related functions. In fact, the US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nursing home industry's worker-injury rate was the 3rd highest among 84 industry groups in 2003, which is the most recent year of available data.
As for now, the nursing home industry is not governed by standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), who govern other high-risk industries. Efforts are being made to improve worker safety and OSHA has issued its recommended guidelines in 2002, however, the implementation of solutions can be costly (although if you weigh the costs against the costs of loss of employee/worker's compensation claims, you may rethink your patient handling policies).
"Ten years ago, we didn't even pay attention to nursing homes," said Rob Medlock, director of Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Cleveland-area office. "People thought, 'Nursing homes? They cared for my grandfather, I know they're good.'"
What people don't realize is that in caring for those who can't care for themselves, the risk of injury increases significantly. Nurses and nursing assistants, in particular, sustain injuries to their backs, necks and shoulders while lifting patients, not to mention the risks of combative patients.
Unlike other high-risk industries, such as construction and manufacturing, nursing homes do not operate under any OSHA standard aimed at preventing the injuries common to their workers. The agency issued 2002 ergonomic guidelines for the nursing home industry, however nursing home owners and lobbyists, who considered them a step toward new regulations, criticized these unenforceable recommendations. And, without an enforceable standard, OSHA has had to find other ways to penalize employers in the nursing home industry who don't make an effort to protect their workers. For example, the Voluntary Protection Program allows employers with effective safety programs that maintain low injury and illness rates to be exempt from regular OSHA inspections.
The only way to completely prevent lift-related injuries is to eliminate the need for workers to bear the weight of the patients they care for. There are mechanical equipment such as overhead lifts and patient lifts that allow caregivers to assist in moving a patient without having to perform a manual lift. This equipment is expensive, but necessary.
Also available are non mechanical equipment for repositioning patients in bed and performing surface to surface transfers. Items such as these cover the caregivers additional 30 to 50% of exposure to back injury by allowing caregivers to reposition patients without having to lift. These cost effective items are typically expensed, unlike their mechanical cousins that typically require capital budgets, and allow caregivers to get started today.
No matter what the cost to the facility, it is important to begin implementing a safe patient handling program. In the long run, it will save you from loss of employees and monetary funds.
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