Minimal Lift

Any equipment is only as good as the person using it, and the training given. If you have good training then some items are wonderful and really help, but poor training (like having to train quickly due to staffing issues, or no training at all) can result in injury to both patient and staff. So it is important for a facility to really stand behind continuing training, preformance checks, maintance of equipment routinely, and understanding by staff that they ARE to use it if they are mandated to.

Not all equipment is for everyone though, and needs to be assessed on a case by case or change of condition basis. I have certain clients whom need a hoyer, but constantly struggle or move causing injury and feelings of insecurity and fear. These types of people need to be assessed and all options tried before simply saying "thats a two person hoyer lift (my facility seems to think hoyers are the answer to everything!).

It is like I say with any technology I see or use..."read your patient, not the machine!" Very good advice!!!!! (especially for pulse ox's...but that's another thread! LOL!!!!!).

If they won't use the equipment perhaps a suggestion to management: If an employee calls in with a back injury, there will no paid time off because the facility has gone above and beyond to create a safe enviroment and avoid employee injuries. Additionally, it should be mandatory that everyone be certified and all certifications be redone every 6 months for the first 2 years. That'll get 'em!

I am impressed with your facility! We have had some very heavy patient loads lately (no pun intended!) - completely dependent people weighing over 300 pounds Anyway, after three or four call ins for back injuries, they placed a "mandatory" video on the unit, showing five people lifting a very thin man who was partially able to help. So, now they have "educated" us about back safety, but it sure hasn't solved the problem of having a 400 pound patient with multiplte wounds all to yourself because the CNA has called in with a sore back, and everyone else has at least one other patient exactly like yours.

I work in what is referred to as a "lift free" facility. We have slider boards to assist with sliding on and off stretchers. We have full sling lifts and partial lifts for all units. We are trained and retrained yearly. New admissions arriving for rehabilitation are not transferred without a full lift until evaluated by Physical therapy. PERIOD, no family can whine or argue enough to alter that one....Supervisors are tougher than the staff when it comes to this policy.

I am impressed with your facility! We have had some very heavy patient loads lately (no pun intended!) - completely dependent people weighing over 300 pounds Anyway, after three or four call ins for back injuries, they placed a "mandatory" video on the unit, showing five people lifting a very thin man who was partially able to help. So, now they have "educated" us about back safety, but it sure hasn't solved the problem of having a 400 pound patient with multiplte wounds all to yourself because the CNA has called in with a sore back, and everyone else has at least one other patient exactly like yours.

The good thing about the equipment is that they can lift up to 440 lbs safely. Any heavier and we can request a bariatric lift that can handle up to 1000 lbs.

We have lift equipment but it is rarely used, only on the completely dependant patient you have to get up to a chair or to some other place where a smooth mover won't work. One problem is that the patient rooms are so small you can barely fit the equipment in there. Can you imagine running to get lift equipment everytime a patient is down at the foot of the bed and wants a boost up. Though I don't use the equipement that much, I never pull a patient up by myself or without adequate help.

We have a new overflow unit and there are only ever 3 staff on at a time. We had a 95kg patient that needed total care. There was no way 3 staff could pull him up or lift him, so I called our main unit and got him transferred up there where they had the staff to assist with the help that was needed.

I think management would like us to use the equipment all the time but in reality knows it won't happen but this way they can cover their you know what.

This is where slide sheets are useful. You don't need heavy equipment - just the slippery sheet - roll the patient over - yes that is still a bit of huff and puff but it is not as hard as lifting the full weight especailly if you can bend the knee and use that weight to help roll - poke under the sheet as far as it will go and being thin it just about pokes through to the other side. then roll back just the tiniest bit to get the sheet through and one two three slide. Beleive Me!! you will almost put the patient's head through the bars at the top of the bed. Getting the sheet out - just poke it through under the patient and it sort of slips out.

Lift sheets are used in every place I've been so far (4 hospitals). I first learned about them well before I entered nursing school, from the LVN at the residential center where my Dad lived, when we put him into hospice. Wouldn't be without 'em.

NurseFirst

In the UK we are like in Australia and have a no lift policy, I find it strange that people are not willing to learn using lifting equipment as it so safe guards the back from any injury of the people doing the lifting. Sometimes the patients felt overwelmed with it but once it was explained that the safety risk to everyone was high and it would help the nurses from not sustaining back problems the patient would always agree to be lifted in the hoist. Slide sheets are brilliant.