Patient Handling With Equipment Versus Manual Handling - Maitri Hospital

1. One of the major causes of injuries caused to patients is the repeated manual shifting, lifting, transferring, and repositioning that they have to encounter. While operations, surgeries, and treatments require patients to take a few days leave from work to get appropriate rest, handling them inappropriately can be a cause of concern. Considering this, many healthcare organizations are coming up with safe patient handling programs, which aims to minimize injuries due to unnecessary movements and falls. Proper education and equipment that help understand and use patient lifting appropriately can significantly reduce exposure to patient risks. The main focus is on using equipment rather than people to perform lifts, movements, and repositioning of patients such that they encounter lower levels of stress. But, taking care of this requires good management, and possibly a team of appropriate managers and supervisors. In addition, the non-managerial employees who provide direct care to patients should be well represented on the safe patient handling committee in order to design and implement a safe patient handling program and sustain it into the future. Besides, high risks should be addressed. Types of nursing units, the equipment, the physical environment of the patient care area – all of this needs to considered. Also, the characteristics of patient population, like the level of patient mobility and cognition, should also be considered. And, methods should also be employed to control hazards, like lifting, transferring, and repositioning patients.

2. Manual lifting should be minimized, or if possible, eliminated; and instead, specialized lifting equipment and transfer tools should be used. Appropriate lifting equipment should be selected in accordance with the hazard assessment, and the installation and maintenance should be done as per manufacturer recommendations. The best approach for this is through proper design of the work environment. In addition, there are various factors that need to be considered while selecting and using equipment-used movement of patients. These include their weight bearing capacity, upper body strength, lower body strength, physical characteristics, cognitive level, and other factors like presence of tubes, splints, IV, and HOF. There are a number of benefits associated with safe patient handling, apart from reducing the risks of injury. These include – Decreased patient falls Reduces costs associated with injuries Improved nursing recruitment and retention Increased patient satisfaction and comfort More satisfying work environment Improved quality of care for patients Enhanced rehabilitation efforts Improved job satisfaction for workers Lesser fatigue and more energy at the end of work shift for workers Improved quality of life for workers outside of work Reduced use of sick leaves by employees and reduced compensation Fewer resources needed to replace injured staff However, there must be sufficient education and training given to each worker so that they understand the elements of safe patient handling programs, and how to participate. They should be taught appropriately to assess hazards, use appropriate patient lifting equipment, and review evidence-based practices for safe patient handling. While patient handling is done through machines these days, for effective treatment of patients, a physician is still the best choice. Maitri Hospital’sgeneral physician in Kota is who you can approach for all kinds of generic diseases and illnesses, along with certain unusual ones like dengue, chicken gunya, tuberculosis, and pneumonia. Follow Us On: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram