Lift teams and how do they work??

germain · Mar 12, 2005

Hi! I work in a large university hospital and we use lift teams. On weekdays between 7-11 we have 2 teams of two, on weekends we have one team. Nurses call the dispatcher, who in turn calls them. They also dispatch transporters and sort calls by priority, with bariatric patients, falls etc taking priority over routine turning etc. The teams also have a turn schedual given by the floors to turn total care patients. Team workers are often but not always aides to begin with, and use arjo, opera, and other special lifts. It works out well and helps the nurses. I call them the STAT aides, because they are often called in to do clean up when the floor aides aren't available, or the patient is very heavy.

All staff costs money, but staff that saves backs and L&I for the hospital is so worth it, especially since we are seeing so many more HEAVY patients!

*PICURN* · Mar 12, 2005

Looking to find out what other hospital centers are doing. Do you have a lift team?? How many are in the team? What type of people----techs, etc. ?
How many hours/day available? Do they wear pagers?? Who do they report to?? How are they prioritized?? What type of equipment do they use??
Thanks

I work @ a lg teaching hospital that uses a lift team. Not sure how many are on the team, but during the day shift there are 2 assigned to each floor. Usually they are BIG guys :chuckle who can lift a lot better than the rest of us! Peds we don't really use them but I know the med-surg/tele/ortho/adult ICU's use them a LOT especially for total care patients that need to be turned q2h or need to get up in a chair BID and they are total assist. They come around in the morning with a sheet and you "sign up" your patients and what time you would like them to come and help you at. I'm not sure how it is prioritized, and I haven't seen them use any other equipment except themselves!