Safe patient handling moved to the national stage for the first time recently as a U.S. Senate subcommittee held a hearing on a bill that would create new injury prevention requirements.
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The Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2009 includes the following language requiring health care employers to purchase equipment for patient handling:
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Health care remains in the spotlight of an energized U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as the agency explores new regulations related to infectious diseases and requirements for injury and illness prevention programs.
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The unprotected exposure of a respiratory therapist who later developed bacterial meningitis triggered the first citations under California's new Aerosol Transmissible Disease Standard – with fines of $101,485, including two "willful" violations, the strongest possible penalty, against Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, CA. The medical center has appealed the citations, but did not reply to a request for comment as this story was being filed.
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For many years, "body mechanics" was the mantra of physical therapy. Position yourself correctly as you lift and you can avoid injury, the physical therapists said.
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A ream of statistics and studies may prove the benefits of safe patient handling. But at St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam, NY, equally compelling was the story of one patient – a 450-pound woman who could not get out of the ambulance.
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