A lift assist team in an acute care hospital - prevention of injury or transfer of risk during patient-handling tasks

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fricklas E ; James T ; Lipscomb HJ ; Myers DJ ; Schoenfisch AL
• Description:
  A Lift Assist Team (LAT) was created on three units at a medical center where nursing staff were at high risk for patient-handling injuries. LAT members were drawn from the hospital's pool of patient transporters. Using qualitative and quantitative data, this case study summarizes the development, implementation, and experiences of the LAT. Nursing staff valued the LAT, reporting increased staff safety and improved patient care. LAT members reported greater job satisfaction and a newfound sense of assimilation into the nursing group compared to when their role was patient transport only. However, over time, their job responsibilities expanded beyond those officially designated for LAT members. Active, ongoing surveillance of the LAT's exposures and outcomes is warranted to understand whether patient-handling injury risk is shifting from nursing personnel to LAT members. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Personnel Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Health-care-personnel Injuries Injury-prevention Job-analysis Manual-lifting Nursing Physical-capacity Qualitative-analysis Quantitative-analysis Surveillance-programs Task-performance Transport-mechanisms

  More +
• ISSN:
  0891-0162
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  329-334
• Volume:
  59
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20040829
• Citation:
  AAOHN J 2011 Aug; 59(8):329-334
• Contact Point Address:
  Ashley L. Schoenfisch, MSPH, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, 2200 West Main Street, Suite 400, Durham, NC 27705
• Email:
  ashley.schoenfisch@duke.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• Performing Organization:
  University of Texas
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20051002
• Source Full Name:
  AAOHN Journal - American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Journal
• End Date:
  20071231
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:33357faeb0168fc00bb3281e862f081be933a292f1fdd84c7ad21d9cf07ce4fad0c094ed6ee52bad0a504db3401b4e16bb9c77a0aee693762c04764819abf814
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/193554/cdc_193554_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 355.20 KB ]