She's fallen and can't get up! Now what do you do?

Nurses General Nursing

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The patient was over 6 feet tall and over 250 pounds and didn't walk.

Two people came to "help" and wound up arguing with me about using the Hoyer to lift the patient. I was for, they were against.

There was no way on this earth that I was going to lift that patient without equipment. They wanted to lift her up by lifting her under the arms. When they actually tried to, I ordered them out of the room.

They were going about it wrong, plus they were insubordinate to me by absolutely refusing to use the Hoyer to lift the patient. They really could've hurt the patient and themselves with what they were trying to do.

So I had my tech get the Hoyer and we could've transferred the patient back to bed at that point without fuss, except that those two were so convinced that they were right, they went to the charge nurse.

Who also refused to use the Hoyer lift, telling me that it couldn't possibly lift the patient from the floor and refusing to allow me to demonstrate!

I've learned an awful lot on this Board, and I'm counting on you all to chime in with your opinions of what I should have done next, given the fact that yes, the Hoyer would've been able to do the job.

Specializes in LTC, MDS Cordnator, Mental Health.

The only time we didn't use the hoyer was when it was an obvious broken hip then we used a bath blanket and 6 staff to lift her to the bed (83 lbs)

the only hoyer we had to work with would have caused further injury. the hoyer is save as we have a special sling that has longer straps just for that situation.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
In the UK you would be sued if you tried to lift this patient WITHOUT using a hoist.

We have to follow EU working regulations and this means that the most any one person can lift is approx 4 stone (about 56 pounds I think) so 2 people can lift 8 stone etc.

However the majority of hospitals etc now have a NO LIFTING policy, we will move we will handle but we will not lift

In fact our Mandatory study day is called 'training on how to move and handle patients'

Clearly there are emergency situations were some form of lifting is unavoidable, but other than that, no go.

It does work, if all the staff and management are on the same page, management tend to be quite good as there were some very public cases of nurses suing having sustained back injuries (which left them unable to work) and wining.

I know that you still get some 'old school' staff that think we've all gone soft but as someone who lives with a work related back injury I refuse to take any chances.

And I always point out to students (the most easily led astray or bullied in unsafe practices) that you only get one back, it's difficult to repair, a bad back affects all parts of your life, and if you get an injury at work where you should have used equipment there had better have been a fire or worse 'cause otherwise Bye Bye, not our problem.

And as I said before it is part of the EU regulations so the hospital can also be fined if the equipment is not in place and of good working order. Tend to keep them in check:roll

:yeahthat:

Plus my back is my livelyhood and if I damage it and can't work are they going to pay !!!!!!!

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Why on earth would the charge say the lift wouldn't lift the pt from the floor? I was in a similiar situation with a homecare pt. 6' 2 and at least 250lbs. The lift got him from the floor back into his wheelchair no problem.Obviously this nurse needed to have some education regarding the use of lifts.As some posters have mentioned, some facilities have " no lifting" policies and you would have been in hot watyer for nor using the lift.

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Why would anyone want to lift a pt when there is a machine to do it for them? Call me lazy, but the less I have to lift the better.

Even the thought of lifting that pt has my back hurting. I can't imagine how painful/uncomfortable it would be for the pt.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Good on you for sticking to your guns, Angie!! I'd be willing to bet that the nurses who refused to use the lift more than likely did so because they don't know how to use one.

I remember when I was orienting to Med/Surg a number of years ago, they never even showed the licensed nurses how to use the Hoyer---only the CNAs were taught this. So it was kind of embarrassing when a 350-pounder fell out of bed one night, and none of us (all-RN staff on nocs) could use the machine to get him off the floor! After that, I asked one of the aides to show me how to use it........my back didn't appreciate having to assist 5 other people in getting this fellow up and back to bed.

Another excuse people use is "Well, it takes too long to get the equipment, get the patient strapped in, etc." What they don't take into consideration is that back injuries take MUCH longer to heal than the five minutes or so it costs to find the lift and position the patient properly!:scrying:

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

Another excuse people use is "Well, it takes too long to get the equipment, get the patient strapped in, etc." What they don't take into consideration is that back injuries take MUCH longer to heal than the five minutes or so it costs to find the lift and position the patient properly!:scrying:

Exactly why I felt it necessary to argue about it, Marla. Yes, we have a lift policy.

I know I did the right thing, but I'm so sick over the whole unpleasant argument that took place, I could puke.

I do want you to know that I appreciate your support and that's probably the only reason I got a few hours of sleep and was able to eat a little today.

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Specializes in Emergency room, Flight, Pre-hospital.

Actually I had a similar situation with similar resistance. We had a pt that was 350#, that had slipped and fell, but couldn't get up. It was someone we had brought upstairs from ER, We initially tried to help her get up (not nowing there was a hoyerlift 1 floor up:flamesonb ) We called security and the floor that had the hoyer to get more people, and this pt still couldn't be lifed. Then I said I wish we had a lift. The Tech from upstairs said they had one. I was like go get it! The nurses on the floor we brought this pt to were no help, and didn't think we would be able to lift with the hoyer from the floor, and just stood back and watched as we helped pt. roll to get the canvas under. Then hoyered into bed. Worked super, just frustraiting that pt spent 45+ min on floor while we tried to figure out how to get up, when there was a hoyer available, but no one mentioned it, until directly asked! And then were disbelieving and no help! So totally can relate!!!!

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Specializes in ICU, telemetry, LTAC.

The lifts we have, I am trying to imagine using them to get someone off the floor. I don't think ours are designed to go that low; chair height yes; floor, probably not. The two times I've had a patient on the floor, I made sure there were at least 4 people lifting.

Kudos to you, Angie, for standing your ground.

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The lifts we have, I am trying to imagine using them to get someone off the floor. I don't think ours are designed to go that low; chair height yes; floor, probably not. The two times I've had a patient on the floor, I made sure there were at least 4 people lifting.

Kudos to you, Angie, for standing your ground.

check the instruction book, BEFORE you need it, lol

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