No lift policy

mattsmom81 · Jan 30, 2004

We have one that belongs to rehab but they won't borrow it to us....stingy things they are.

It's a crane device that sits the patient into a chair from the bed.

I hear in Europe facilities are suspending these types of cranes from the ceiling in each room??

donmurray · Jan 30, 2004

http://www.arjo.com

is a Swedish (I think) manufacturer who has a presence in the USA. Their site shows a range of different equipment including tracked ceiling hoists. I think it's under "Lifting and transport"

mattsmom81 · Jan 30, 2004

Originally posted by donmurray
http://www.arjo.com
is a Swedish (I think) manufacturer who has a presence in the USA. Their site shows a range of different equipment including tracked ceiling hoists. I think it's under "Lifting and transport"

Thanks for the link Don....we can only wish for stuff like this!!! Sure would save on nurses' backs!!

pickledpepperRN · Jan 31, 2004

Originally posted by gwenith
I meant - sell it to your facility/institution.

The main focus of no -lift is the "slide sheet" /"move tube" this is (would you believe) sail cloth. IT is REALLY slippery cloth that is placed under the patient. You still need to roll the patient but not as far - once rolled you put the slide sheet under them and then you pull the patient into the correct position - we are taught how to do this and minimise the stress on our backs and shoulders. Taking the cloth out again is very easy. We actually have "wardsmen" who turn our patients for us (usually big strapping blokes) but even THEY use the slide sheets. We use hoists - even on vented patients - to get them out of bed and certainly use hoists for bathing etc.

I like the "slide sheet/move tube" idea but have never seen one. Is it useful for lifting those who slide down in bed?

Regarding your "wardsmen' there is an ad recruiting licensed nurses showing smiling young men who look like competative bodybuilders depicting the "lift team".

Once we had an "orderly" called the "night man" who held a 140 pound patient is pelvic traction with an arm onder shoulders and hips while I cleaned her and changed the sheets! He was a strapping young man, strong and caring.

A hoyer lift is a help but some patients are frightened by being suspended in a sling.

LOVE cardiac chairs that can be flat and even with the bed for sliding. Than they convert to an upright or reclining position with the arms up. They also have a removable tray for meals, activities, and can remind patients not to try getting up without help.

I am one fortunate nurse who has worked for decades without a back injury. Two shoulder injuries though. No pain but residual decrease in strength.

I have seen patients >200- 300 pounds with CHF suffer with their feet over the foot of the bed (many diabetic too). I could not pull them up alone. No one was free to help (or in some cases willing).

A lift team would prevent patient suffering, nurse injuries, and allow licensed nurses with injuries to continue at the bedside.

mattsmom81 · Jan 31, 2004

Originally posted by spacenurse
[b
A lift team would prevent patient suffering, nurse injuries, and allow licensed nurses with injuries to continue at the bedside. [/b]

I have watched as hospitals eliminate porters, orderlies, aides, and transporters from our facilities. Too many of our veteran nurses retire with chronic pain from years of overwork.

It would be nice to be valued for my brains instead of my ability to lift. Sometimes I feel like a plowhorse instead of a professional.

When I apply for a job (as an older nurse) my health and lifting abilities seem a main focus of concern. ('show us you can lift 75# off the floor 6 times and 100# off the floor 3 times consecutively')

TPTB 'say' they value our professionalism and skills, but when I watch what they DO it doesn't jive.

We had a new physical therapist who started out lecturing nurses..."'if you lift PROPERLY you won't get hurt". Once she started coming out of the dept's controlled setting and into bedside patient situations she quickly got injured...funny how that happens. The lectures have stopped and she stays in the dept now.

I have learned the hard way to back off a situation where my instincts tell me I can get hurt. I also don't let doctors, patients and families bully me into disregarding my health and wellbeing.

We have to look out for ourselves...nobody else will.

donmurray · Feb 1, 2004

Your comment on the "lifting trial" is terrifying! The UK equivalent of OSHA is the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) who set standards across industry. This website link is to the musculoskeletal section...it's not directly health related, but the weights involved, and the calculations of the different factors in the examples show that nobody should lift anyone bigger than a medium sized child!

http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/index.htm#top

Tweety, BSN, RN · Feb 1, 2004

Originally posted by donmurray
Yes tweety, except we use the word as a verb too! Is a "Hoyer" a particular make of hoisting/lifting device?

Yes, Hoyer is a brand name. Our rehab unit gets all the good Hoyers and we get to use our backs, except to weight daily weights, no built in weighers in the beds, except in critical care, we use a scale that lifts them in the air and weighs them.

Sure it would be expensive, but if hospitals would invest some money in hoists, etc. imagine the lost work time they would save. Duh.

helpme nurse · Feb 1, 2004

we have a similar policy in my work place. what it basically states that once the pt is evaluated by pt( which they have to be by the day of admission/readmission) if they have a weight bearing status of any, you as cna or nurse are to encourage the right body mechanics to stand on there on with either them standing on there own or walker or we have what are called buddy belts which are used to assist the resident when standing up that wraps around there mid section and able to give help when standing that way you are not pulling on them or picking them up they are able to do it themselves, it took me a little while to get used to this procedure because i was used to just picking everyone up and it is easier that way but it does give the resident a little extra added boost of encouragement that they can do it themselves, and it does take a little extra time to do it this way though, and then for the people that can not bear weight at all are put on lifts until they can be safely transfered by one or two people well i hope this helps

Good_Queen_Bess · Feb 2, 2004

We have a "no-lift" policy in the UK, and are taught how to move patients safely, with use of equipment. HA! However, equipment is always breaking, going "missing" or being "borrowed", patients have infections or the hoist has sh*t all over it and is being washed. Not all patients are safe to use equipment on. We are taught how to move patients by practising on each other. However, no one has ever told me how to move a non-compliant patient who has a tracheostomy, has millions of wires, lines and tubing and has a head injury and is agitated and trying to get out of bed, and about to pull everything out! All in less space than a match box. Hmmm.....

A colleague of mine has permanantly damaged her back and lives on painkillers because she moved a patient too quickly who had a tracheostomy and was vomiting and about to aspirate. She simply turned him onto his side. She now lives with permanant pain.

Please be careful everyone.

Loppear, RN · Feb 12, 2004

originally posted 01/03/04 on the UK Nurses Forum

No Lift Policy in our Health District

In our Health Region, and pretty much all over the province (I believe), we have a strict no lift policy. We are trained in TLR...

Transferring, Lifting and Repositioning. "Minimal amount of effort with the maximum use of equipment'. This training is offered by SAHO, Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations. And in most facilities, you are expected to hold a certificate in TLR before allowed to work.

This training teaches us to use good body mechanics, and there is certain criteria that a client or patient must meet to fit into different catagories of transfers and moves.

Independent Transfer

Supervised Transfer

Minimum Assistance Transfer

One-person Transfer with Belt

One-person Transfer with Belt and assistant

Sit/Stand Lift

Total Lift

We also use slider sheets, draw sheets and boards to move clients from bed to chair etc.

Now all this being said, there are times when you have to tug, pull, push, and rotate, twist, and bend over. It isn't always possible to follow the techniques exactly, but for the most part, it is good training to have. It cuts back on the amount of injuries nurses and caregivers get and probably claims to Workers Compensation for injuries on the job. I have no idea how that works, it has never happened to me so I am not sure of the whole process.

So we have a No Lift Policy in effect here. This has been in place for a number of years I believe.

lisaloulou · Feb 17, 2004

This thread reminds me of something I have noticed, being fairly new to this region of the country- patients WANT to be lifted. I ask them to scoot over about 12 inches across a level table to another level table and they look at me like Ive just asked them to run a marathon. Im talking about otherwise healthy individuals admitted from home(where they presumably walked around unassisted) with ortho injuries to one extremity. I wheel them in, obviously very much working alone, ask them to scoot and they say "cant you all just pull me over" or "dont you have any help?" Whats up with that?? Is it just a cultural thing- if you are in the hospital part of getting your money's worth is not having to literally lift a finger or what? Just curious.

nurseingforlife · Jul 3, 2008

There is another swedish company called Romedic i think it's romedic.com. There products a service are fantastic.