February 25, 2015 - Bernard Valencia's room in the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Medical Center in Loma Linda, Calif., illustrates how hospitals across the country could fight a nationwide epidemic. As soon as you enter the room, you can see one of the main strategies: A hook hangs from a metal track that runs across the ceiling.
This isn't some bizarre way of fighting hospital-acquired infections or preventing the staff from getting needle sticks. The contraption is a ceiling hoist designed to lift and move patients with a motor instead of muscle.
As NPR has reported in our investigative series Injured Nurses, nursing employees suffer more debilitating back and other injuries than almost any other occupation — and they get those injuries mainly from doing the everyday tasks of lifting and moving patients.
But the Loma Linda hospital is part of a nationwide health care system that is proving hospitals can dramatically reduce the rate of injuries caused by lifting — if administrators are willing to invest the time and money.
snip
VA records showed that more than 2,400 of its nursing staff suffered debilitating injuries every year from lifting patients.
The injuries "were interfering with their lives at work," Hodgson said. "They were interfering with productivity. They were putting patients at risk because, you know, if somebody gets hurt at work and has to go home, you're down a nurse on that shift."
The VA's own studies estimated that its hospitals were spending at least $22 million every year treating back and other injuries among nursing staff. And that figure "likely represents a substantial underestimate," a VA report cautioned, since half of all injuries that interfered with employees' ability to do their work were not reported. read more>>>
No comments:
Post a Comment