Monday, July 30, 2007

New Zealand Patient Handling Guidelines

I came across a great patient handling website today from the Accident Compensation Corporation in New Zealand. The lift program they have created is called "Liten Up" and you may download the complete guide on the website. The FAQ section is also quite useful. Here is the link: New Zealand Patient Handling Guidelines

pt handling injuries in Radiology

Our radiology group is in denial that pt handling injuries do not exist even tough there are high injuries from doing portable x-rays at the bedside to transferring patients from w/c onto imaging table.
1. Any solutions for reducing injuries in the upper extremities from pushing the x-ray cassette underneath our patients?
2. Any suggetions (besides $ and injury rates) for getting senior management to buy in or even acknowledge that their staff are getting hurt from handling their patients?
3. Does anyone know of any total-assist lift for MRI area?
Thanks!

Decedent Care

Just wondering how your hospital staff handle the bodies? Do you use any lifts? Our Decedent Care just purchased the "Body Scoop" by Guldmann. It seems to be working fine. Would like hear others' comments? Thanks!

Back Pain and Interventions

I ran across this article today on the Usernomics website and thought I would post it and get your comments. The article is states "A Finnish review has concluded that employer attempts to push training programs that offer lifting advice and material handling devices in an effort to alleviate worker back pain do not prevent the malady, which is said to be the top cause of workers' compensation claims." It also states, "According to Maher, regulatory agencies as well as employers make the mistake of concentrating on equipment and policies that don't work such as back belts, lifting devices and workplace re-design and fail to focus on the 'only known effective intervention,' which is exercise. " I have not been able to find the actual review, just this article about the review. This seems to be a controversial claim. Has anyone encountered other research or reviews that suggest otherwise? Note that this study is talking about back pain and not back injury.