Lifting Policies are Cited as a Critical Component for Reducing Caregiver Injuries

1. The Development of Policies for Patient Lifting in Acute Care SettingsRick Barker, MACertified Professional ErgonomistPractice Leader, Global Safety ProgramHill-Romrick.barker@hill-rom.com

2. Lifting Policies are Cited as a Critical Component for Reducing Caregiver Injuries And more frequently:The lack of a clear program or enforcement of that program is cited as the reason for poor effectiveness with injury reductions efforts

3. “No Lift” or “Zero Lift” Policy Ergonomics Nirvana OR Consultant Myopia

4. “No Lift” or “Zero Lift” Policy • Proponents point to: • Success in Long-Term Care • Application in England

5. Success in Long-Term Care • Critical Differences: • Length of Stay • Direction of Capability Changes • Speed at Which Capabilities Change • Urgency of Transfers • Therapeutic Handling Activities

6. Success of Lifting Regulations in England • Critical Differences: • Length of Stay/Payment Structure • Open Floor/Ward Design • No Competition for Patients • Descriptions Have Been Overstated, Reality Is: • Law Does Not State That Lifting Patients is Illegal • Many Units Have Little or No Lifting Equipment • Many Facilities Emphasize Training Instead of Equipment • Funding for Lifting Equipment Difficult to Obtain • Therapeutic Handling Activities Excluded • Few Indications of Success in Past 10 Years

7. “No Lift” or “Zero Lift” Policy • Fundamental Questions • Can you truly avoid ALL lifting? • What about pushing, pulling, repositioning, tugging, or holding?

8. Safe Patient Handling Policy Rather Than“No Lift” Policy

9. Value-Added Patient Handling • Is the reason for the caregivers’ physical exertion in handling a patient: • To speed or promote the healing process or • Change the patient’s location

10. The Need For Unit Specific Policies

11. Managing Policy Compliance

12. Making a Plan Work • What works? • Clear discipline policies • Manager/Supervisor accountability • Employee involvement in policy development • Reinforcement of desired behaviors

13. Discipline Policies Heavily Promoted Cited as Reason for Failures Unrealistic in Health Care Job Market Impact on Organization Safety Culture

14. Manager Accountability Insufficient in most organizations, rare in health care You can’t change what you don’t measure Organization behavior will match organization reward structures, not vision and policy statements

15. Employee Involvement in Policy Development • Why? • Ownership • Workplace Insight

16. Reinforcement of Desired Behavior If you supervise a parts machining department and the policy that you establish is that once a person completes their daily quota, they can spend the remainder of the day in the break room what behavior do you expect to see?

17. Reinforcement of Desired Behavior What behaviors among nurses do you want to encourage? How can you measure these behaviors? What options do you have for providing reinforcement?

18. Questions for The Panel