Safe Patient Handling Legislation and Musculoskeletal Disorders Among California Healthcare Workers: Analysis of Workers’ Compensation Data, 2007-2016

Details

• Journal Article:
  Am J Ind Med
• Personal Author:
  Lee, Soo-Jeong ; Lee, Joung Hee ; Harrison, Robert J.
• Description:
  Background:
  
  California requires general acute care hospitals to have a comprehensive plan to prevent patient handling injuries (PHIs) among employees. The safe patient handling (SPH) law took effect in 2012. This study assessed the impact of the SPH law on workers’ compensation claims for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among California hospital workers.
  
  Methods:
  
  We used California Workers’ Compensation Information System data from 2007-2016 and analyzed claims for MSDs that occurred in acute care hospitals compared with nursing and residential care facilities. MSD claims were classified into PHI and non-PHI claims.
  
  Results:
  
  We identified 199,547 MSD claims that occurred during 2007-2016 in acute care hospitals (62.8%) and nursing and residential care facilities (37.2%). MSDs accounted for 42.8% of all claims. Of the MSD claims, 81.0% were strains or sprains and 33.5% of MSDs were related to patient handling activities. From 2011 to 2016, MSD claim rates showed significant reductions among both hospital and nursing/residential care workers. However, the MSD-PHI claim rate showed a significant reduction only among hospital workers (7.3% per year, Incidence Rate Ratio [IRR]=0.927, 95% CI 0.903-0.952). There was no significant change among nursing/residential care workers (IRR=0.990, 95% CI 0.976-1.005). The non-PHI claim rate showed no significant change among hospital workers (IRR=0.982, 95% CI 0.956-1.009).
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Our study identified significant reductions of PHI claims among California hospital workers after the passage of the SPH legislation, suggesting that SPH legislation played a crucial role in reducing the risk of injury among healthcare workers.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Health Personnel Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeleta System Occupational Health Safety Workers' Compensation
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Healthcare Worker; Musculoskeletal Disorder; Patient Handling Injury; Safe Patient Handling Legislation; Workers' Compensation Health Care Workers; Patient Handling; Workers Compensation; Legislation; Injuries; Injury Prevention; Musculoskeletal Disorders; MSD;
• Source:
  Am J Ind Med. 65(7):589-603
• Pubmed ID:
  35582774
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC9880307
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  R03 OH010487/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; T42 OH008429/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  22 pdf pages
• Volume:
  65
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065238
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, San Francisco
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b47f6804b658ad5c6bbca8c09a74bb8b414fcf33588f96138dfdf8f99411005fd9ff7be6d269132290eba09a39dcf1bc625264a8ea645ff80675e8fe74385b57
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/124068/cdc_124068_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 392.79 KB ]