Factors Associated with Lift Equipment Use During Patient Lifts and Transfers by Hospital Nurses and Nursing Care Assistants: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Avent S ; Becherer L ; James T ; Kucera KL ; Lipscomb HJ ; McIlvaine J ; Schoenfisch AL ; Yeung Y-L
• Description:
  Background: Despite wide availability of patient lift equipment in hospitals to promote worker and patient safety, nursing staff do not consistently use equipment. Objective: To determine the influence of factors on the use or non-use of lift equipment during patient lifts/transfers. Design: Prospective observational cohort study. Setting: One university teaching hospital and two community hospitals in a large health system in southeastern United States. Participants: 77 nurses and nursing care assistants with patient handling duties in critical care, step-down and intermediate care units. Methods: Participants recorded information about all patient lifts/transfers during their shifts during a 1 week period per month for three months: type of lift/transfer, equipment use, type of equipment, and presence of 20 factors at the time of the lift/transfer. With the patient lift/transfer as the unit of analysis, the association (risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI)) between factors and equipment use was examined using multivariate Poisson regression with generalized estimating equations. Results: Seventy-seven participants (465 person-shifts) reported 3246 patient lifts/transfers. Frequent lifts/transfers included bed-to-toilet (21%), toilet-to-bed (18%), bed-to-chair (13%), chair-to-bed (13%), chair-to-toilet (6%), and toilet-to-chair (6%). Equipment was used for 21% of lifts/transfers including powered floor based dependent lift (41%), powered sit-to-stand lift (29%), non-powered sit-to-stand lift (17%), air-assisted lateral transfer device (6%), ceiling lift (3%), and air-assist patient lift (3%). Factors associated with equipment use included: availability of equipment supplies (RR = 9.61 [95%CI: 6.32, 14.63]), staff availability to help with equipment (6.64 [4.36, 10.12]), staff preference to use equipment (3.46 [2.48, 4.83]), equipment required for patient condition (2.38 [1.74, 3.25]), patient inability to help with lift/transfer (2.38 [1.71, 3.31]), equipment located in/by patient room (1.82 [1.08, 3.06]), sling already under patient (1.79 [1.27, 2.51]), and patient size/weight (1.38 [0.98, 1.95]). Lower patient mobility score (3.39 [2.19, 5.26]) and presence of physical or mental impairments (2.00 [1.40, 2.86]) were also associated with lift equipment use. Factors associated with non-use of equipment included: patient/family preference (0.31 [0.12, 0.80]), staff assisting with lift did not want to use equipment 0.34 ([0.17, 0.68]), patient condition (0.48 [0.20, 1.20]), and patient almost fell (0.66 [0.45, 0.97]). Conclusions: Patient, worker, equipment, and situational factors influence whether nursing staff used equipment to lift/transfer a patient. Quantifying and understanding these factors associated with lift equipment use and non-use provides specific information for hospitals and safety professionals to enhance effectiveness of future organizational and ergonomic intervention efforts to prevent work-related patient-handling injuries. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cohort Studies Ergonomics Health Personnel Hospitals Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Lift Equipment Use Cohort Studies Hospital Equipment Lifting Nurses Nursing Patient-handling Patient Handling Patient Lifting Prospective
• ISSN:
  0020-7489
• 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:
  35-46
• Volume:
  91
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20068669
• Citation:
  Int J Nurs Stud 2019 Mar; 91:35-46
• Contact Point Address:
  Kristen L. Kucera, Department of Exercise & Sport Science, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 209 Fetzer Hall, CB#8700, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8700, United States
• Email:
  kkucera@email.unc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• Performing Organization:
  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20140901
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Nursing Studies
• End Date:
  20180228
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:47a5e6ec4212898c51a83cf3dff438ee1dc6ba4be00d1ce9c4b40608eb91772b83904eeff5375da5089280368092e0b7e5e718a39caa42ce193d06006ddb3842
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/207260/cdc_207260_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.09 MB ]