Moving into the Future: Promoting Safe Patient Handling for Worker and Patient Safety in Massachusetts Hospitals

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  Workers in Massachusetts hospitals, like workers in hospitals nationwide, are exposed to a wide range of workplace hazards and are at high risk of being injured on the job. Manually lifting, transferring, repositioning and mobilizing patients are high risk tasks routinely performed in the course of providing care. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) that occur while carrying out these tasks are among the most common injuries experienced by hospital workers. These patient handling MSDs are costly. In addition to preventable suffering and direct health care costs, these injuries result in thousands of lost work days and other indirect costs borne by injured workers, hospitals and ultimately the health care system at large. Today our population is living longer and is heavier than in the past, increasing the musculoskeletal risks that health care workers face. The physically demanding patient handling tasks necessary for routine care of hospital patients can also pose risks for patients. The Occupational Health Surveillance Program in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (OHSP-DPH) has a long history of collaborating with hospitals and hospital workers to reduce the incidence of injuries due to needles and other sharp devices. In January 2012, prompted by finding consistently high rates of MSDs among Massachusetts hospital workers and state and federal policy initiatives to promote safe patient handling (SPH), OHSP-DPH built on this successful partnership and established the Hospital Ergonomics Task Force. DPH asked the Task Force to review the available evidence and develop recommendations to reduce the high rate of MSDs and related disability among workers in Massachusetts hospitals with a focus on MSDs associated with patient handling. To address this charge, the Task Force reviewed new findings provided by DPH on patient handling MSDs among workers in Massachusetts hospitals and their associated costs, the research on effectiveness of interventions to reduce patient handling injuries among both workers and patients, and current practice guidelines. It also examined policy initiatives to promote SPH in other states and at the federal level. Informed by this review as well as their own experiences, the Task Force members worked to define essential elements of effective and sustainable hospital SPH programs. The Task Force also collaborated with DPH to conduct a survey to learn more about the current status of SPH programs and practices in DPH licensed hospitals. Based on all of these inputs, the Task Force developed recommendations to reduce MSDs associated with patient handling among Massachusetts hospital workers. These recommendations are directed not only to DPH but to hospitals and other stakeholders with roles to play in improving worker and patient safety. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Ergonomics Health Personnel Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Health Care Workers Injury Prevention Intervention Effectiveness Manual Lifting MSD Musculoskeletal Disorders Patient Handling Total Worker Health TWH Worker Safety
• Publisher:
  Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Handbooks
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-116
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061317
• Citation:
  Boston, MA: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2014 Dec; :1-116
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts State Department of Public Health - Boston
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Moving into the future: promoting safe patient handling for worker and patient safety in Massachusetts hospitals
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:53531c33c70216938d7d9b48b9b946d1c20aef378ebca85a7f6b1e41eed4cdc884db5d0003c07b7618a514e3dc927519c85b21cc6720f560d41fb349c40a9bdf
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224880/cdc_224880_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.19 MB ]