I've never seen a hospital (in the USA) where nurses don't do any heavy lifting. As a rule I boost up, turn, or stand a minimal wt bearing patient 6-10 times a night. I have heard that in the UK lifting is forbidden and approp. assist devices are always avail. but that may just be a rumor. After 20+yrs in nsg I have had 2 hernia repairs and my attending wants me to have spinal surgery. What a great job!
By the way, I'm a guy and for some reason everyone thinks its easier of someone with a y chromosome to lift a 150kg patient. I don't know about any of the other guys out there but I have never used my Adams apple or any other part that the ladies don't have to lift some of our more rotund patients.{just ranting again-sorry}

If you are going to ask the tech to do it, be prepared to do it yourself. It's only fair, it's part of the job, and we make a lot more than the techs. Fortunately for me, most of our techs actually prefer to be the ones who do the cleaning.

Originally Posted by suanna

I've never seen a hospital (in the USA) where nurses don't do any heavy lifting. As a rule I boost up, turn, or stand a minimal wt bearing patient 6-10 times a night. I have heard that in the UK lifting is forbidden and approp. assist devices are always avail. but that may just be a rumor. After 20+yrs in nsg I have had 2 hernia repairs and my attending wants me to have spinal surgery. What a great job!
By the way, I'm a guy and for some reason everyone thinks its easier of someone with a y chromosome to lift a 150kg patient. I don't know about any of the other guys out there but I have never used my Adams apple or any other part that the ladies don't have to lift some of our more rotund patients.{just ranting again-sorry}

No it'd not a rumour!We use slide sheets, hoists and various other moving aids to move and handle patients. Slide sheets especially are not that expensive about $10 maybe and are worth every cent if it saves your back! We have had male carers who could lift patients right up off the beds but generally we have a mostly female work group so we use the aids a lot.Some of us who are older were trained to "lift"back in the day but generally they do not even train nurses now to "lift" but they do train them,yearly,in moving and handling techniques.

ok guys so i asked some of my friends who have also done LTC

all of them said the same thing

nurses did not do any lifting at all of any patients

maybe these LTC have alot of CNAs

and im going into nursing school within a week!!!!!!!!!!!

im already nervous

Originally Posted by suanna

I've never seen a hospital (in the USA) where nurses don't do any heavy lifting. As a rule I boost up, turn, or stand a minimal wt bearing patient 6-10 times a night. I have heard that in the UK lifting is forbidden and approp. assist devices are always avail. but that may just be a rumor.

as nightmare says 'lifting ' is a rare occaision in the UK , plenty of devices available and it is almost unheard of not to have a hoist available in the hospital setting , there is also the aspect of the techniques used for handling if you work on the basis of not lifting as adefault activity

Originally Posted by nads786

guess my question was unclear, while i was in a nursing home all i did was lift patients and clean asses

my question is how much lifting is involved as an RN? ive only worked long term care and nurses do not do any lifting there

i was wondering if it is the same at a hospital where nurses also dont do any lifting?

I work in a large city hospital, in the SICU. We handle mostly cardiothoracic patients. A lot of these patients are morbidly obese. We rarely have a nursing assistant, and if we do, she is busy stocking rooms, moving beds to the OR, etc.. Our CNAs are mostly small women anyway.

The RNs do most, if not all of the lifting. The RNs clean most, if not all, of the asses. Nothing like 12 hours with a 300+ pound patient on Osmolite that needs cleaned/turned/fresh bed every two hours or so. The good new is, even though your back will be killing you, and you will be up to your elbows in poop a lot of the time, you will be making more money than a CNA (that has the same sore back and poopy hands).

If you find the mythical hospital where nurses do no lifting/cleaning, please post it's location. BTW, we have invited Mike Rowe from Discovery Channel's "Dirty Job's" to spend 12 hours with us. No response yet...

As a male nurse, heavy lifting seems to just go with the territory and I've always been there when needed or asked upon by my coworkers. I work in the ICU unit and we are always absent of nurse techs. Now that I've turned 42 I'm at that point in my life and career where I am more careful and wanting to get into another area of nursing so that I can be alot more protective of my back. Not to sound like a whimp, I'm good size and strength with a husky build, but I see to many surgical patients develop DVTs and ileous's from not being moved around or ambulated after surgery. So if I ever need surgery, who is going to lift me?. Scarey thought isn't it.

Originally Posted by nads786

ok guys so i asked some of my friends who have also done LTC

all of them said the same thing

nurses did not do any lifting at all of any patients

maybe these LTC have alot of CNAs

and im going into nursing school within a week!!!!!!!!!!!

im already nervous

Don't be nervous!

I've been in school now for three weeks, and at our last clinical skills lab we learned about body mechanics and mobility. We practiced moving each other: bed to w/c and back, bed to stretcher and back, using various lifts, crutch walking, bed trapezes, etc... I'm a big guy, and I was moved almost flawlessly out of bed by two youngsters that, combined, probably weighed 150 lbs! No lie. There's a method to it all, I promise.

Of course, sometimes being a male in this profession has it's drawbacks; many times, it is automatically assumed that you're bigger and stronger, so therefore you'll be the ox. Doing it correctly means doing it quickly and efficiently, too.

Good luck in school!

Originally Posted by DavidM_RN

As a male nurse, heavy lifting seems to just go with the territory and I've always been there when needed or asked upon by my coworkers. I work in the ICU unit and we are always absent of nurse techs. Now that I've turned 42 I'm at that point in my life and career where I am more careful and wanting to get into another area of nursing so that I can be alot more protective of my back. Not to sound like a whimp, I'm good size and strength with a husky build, but I see to many surgical patients develop DVTs and ileous's from not being moved around or ambulated after surgery. So if I ever need surgery, who is going to lift me?. Scarey thought isn't it.

dont worry about it, they will just make you move yourself

and dont worry about it at 42, young puppy, what are going to do when your 57 like me.

Originally Posted by teeituptom

and dont worry about it at 42, young puppy, what are going to do when your 57 like me.

That's an excellent question. You play a lot of golf, though; I'd imagine you're in decent shape. Do you find that you're called upon to do a lot of lifting? I'm a big guy, with bad knees. Good back and arms, but bad knees. I'm expecting that I'll be doing more than my share of lifting. In the ER, you're transferring people all over the place. Do you find it physically more demanding than it used to be?