my manager is out on medical leave, and i got drafted to attend a management meeting for her. what an eye opener! there were a number of five-star management decisions made and communicated, but the one i'm referring to is the new lift policy. nursing staff must assess each patient for fall risk, and those with moderate or high risk for falls must be put on the fall protocol. that means that any patient at risk for falls who is not independent requires nursing help every time they are out of bed. if the patient weighs more than 25 pounds, nursing staff is not to attempt to lift them; we're to use a lift device. attempting to lift a patient who weights more than 25 pounds without a lift device is subject to disciplinary action up to and including losing your job. and here's the kicker -- there are only 5 antiquated lift devices in our 500 bed hospital . . . . and no money in the budget to acquire more.
so you're subject to disciplinary action if you attempt to get a patient weighing more than 25 pounds out of bed without a lift device. but there are no lift devices available nor are there plans to acquire them.
the scary thing is that management professed not to see the issue with that until it was vociferously pointed out to them during the meeting.
policy still goes into effect april 4. how stupid is that?!
Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
:yeah:fun times ahead. Logistical nightmare for the potty!!
Actually, an ICU I did my preceptorship back in school at, had just installed excellent hoyer-type lifts with ceiling track and remote control. AWESOME. Having a patient up in the air flying around like that reminded me of the stork with a baby bundle...
yep we've got tracking hoists that serve 32 of our 34 beds on the unit i work on and 3 ordinary hoists, a scoop hoist and 2 standing hoists ...
but then again that's part of the problem of working in the evil socialised world of the NHS and in a country with decent moving and handling legislation...
and making use of all the adjustments of the bed ...
i've regularly seen c6 or lower SCI patients use these to move around the bed with just the bed rails and if needed a smidge of head down tilt when they have a full mattress cover slide sheet under the bed sheets... or it;s simple and low load task for 2 members of staff to slide the patient and the sheet up the bed - which minimises shear as well ...
or someone gets a back injury and collects $$$$ from the facility
They could revise the policy to state lift OR extra staff to assist. Using a lift for every patient is time consuming and not even necessary. Another point - get PT to train staff on the proper use of gait belts and how to transfer patients. We did this and it made a big difference. Now all new CNA's are given a gait belt by one of the PTA's and shown how to use them.
I worked in a young stroke unit in the UK a few years back and we use the lift on every pt at least 6 times a day. Every pt was hoya lifted out of bed for every meal, every pt was taken to the bathroom no pt unless in a urgent situation was ever not placed on the toilet!
Now my back was perfect and I mean perfect-how do I know well thats another story
But my neck and shoulders they are shot and I firmly believe when you are manovering the hoist you use your upper shoulders, neck and arms and no matter what you do or how you are trained or how much electronics are on the hoist-you still have to use this part of your body.
So the toss up is injure your upper body by using the hoist or injure your lower back by not!
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i think you should ask the management team to volunteer to demonstrate the proper use of the lift equiptment on each other for the staff to see. put them in the old lifts and see how they like it.
the idea of our impeccably dressed don with her stilettos demonstrating the lift equipment . . . priceless!
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
pretty dang stupid.
i predict there will be very few "moderate or high falls risk" patients... not that nurses want to do a shoddy job of assessing but management really seems intent on making our jobs as difficult as humanly possible. how do they get where they are? seriously?
i hadn't seen that one coming, but you're probably right!
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
what they've done here is to set themselves up to be able to deny all workman's comp claims for any kind of back injury - since they have a policy against lifting, if you lift or stop a pt. from falling - too bad.
i'm almost cynical enough to believe that was their intention.
ZippyGBR, BSN, RN
1,038 Posts
yep we've got tracking hoists that serve 32 of our 34 beds on the unit i work on and 3 ordinary hoists, a scoop hoist and 2 standing hoists ...
but then again that's part of the problem of working in the evil socialised world of the NHS and in a country with decent moving and handling legislation...