Injury reports

[flymomrn]

Do you fill out injury reports for every minor injury you or another staff sustains at work? At my job they have a notice that we are to fill out an injury form every time staff gets injured "every injury, every time, no matter how small". Most people don't bother to fill out the form...it is a pain in the neck and it often seems pointless for a minor injury. We have a resident who has fallen multiple times over the last several weeks. He is a large man who weighs approx. 250 pounds and he can not help us get him up from the floor. We do not have a lift that will help us get him up off the floor (we have 2 lifts for transfers from bed to chairs, but they won't go to the floor). So, this weekend he fell again. Four of us lifted him off the floor and got him safely on to the bed...but one of the aides said "I can't lift him if he falls again as I have injured my shoulder lifting him 3 times tonight" and I strained my lower back. At the end of the shift, I filled out the staff injury forms for both of us and turned them in with the note that neither of us anticipated needing treatment other than the cold compress and Motrin used at the time, but the the forms were filled out per policy. I also mentioned that no matter how carefully we try to use good body mechanics, it is impossible to prevent injuries when lifting a resident from the floor.

I got a call from HR the next day asking how I was doing, and letting me know that due to the injury forms being filled out, the administration had authorized the purchase of a lift that will let us pick residents up from the floor. Nursing had been asking for one for quite some time, but the injury reports gave them the ammunition they needed to get one approved, as just 1 workman's comp claim would cost more than the lift.

I was thrilled to learn that writing up the injury forms for these minor injuries helped to prevent any major injuries. This is how things should work, but seldom do in real life.

[merlee]

You were completely correct to fill out those forms - and now you see just how important they are.

Every injury, every incident, every time.

By the way - - why does this person keep 'going to ground'? Does he need to be seen by PT? No one should be repeatedly falling.

Best wishes!!

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

Exactly! Why is this person falling all the time? Figure it out before you know who comes in to inspect ... anyway; fill out every time no matter how small. Please don't anticipate your medical needs on paper. You never know what might happen. Many a back has been destroyed in nursing. Just the facts and watch your backs.

[LouisVRN, RN]

At my work no we don't. If I get a paper cut I'm not going to fill out an incident form. If it was anything like a back injury I would because you never know how it may effect you in the future. However my sister works at a nuclear power plant and is always trying to get me to go work there. She said instead of running around for 12 hours I will be sitting assessing "paper cut from copy paper", "bug bite of unknown origin", "abrasion from mechanical fall", they are REQUIRED and may be terminated for not filling out paper work for each incident.