I was accepted into an accelerated nursing program starting in September. I've always heard that nurses do a lot of heavy lifting and it's hard on their backs and lots of nurses get injured but I've never known exactly what kind of lifting they do they do. Is it mostly lifting patients? What amount of weight should I be expected to lift? What if I just can't lift someone? I have a back condition that makes me a bit slouched over (I'm 6'1 and I guess this condition can happen to tall females). I'm worried about making my back even worse. I've started to go to the gym and I'm working on strengthening my back but I'm worried it won't be enough. Also, I've heard of lifts that can be used to lift patients but I'm not sure how helpful they are or if all hospitals use them?
Specializes in ICU, Telemetry, Cardiac/Renal, Ortho,FNP.
Raise and tilt the bed and you'll be fine. Use a gait belt (on the patient) and wear a lumbar support when you need one. If you "need" one, reconsider whether you really need one or need to get a power lift. If the patient can move, make them. You are not a butler, nanny, baby sitter, hoist. Standing long hours, it's a given. Working long hours, it's a given. Too much time on a computer...given. Heavy patient lifting, it depends. If you work on a bariatric, ortho, etc. unit then that's a reality. Worst thing I've done in nursing is trying to move a bariatric bed with a patient on it. Didn't budge my back did.
Depending on the specialty, you can expect to move patients, equipment, beds, etc. You may be constantly on the go with few breaks. I lost about 20 lbs the first 4 months.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Hi everyone,
I was accepted into an accelerated nursing program starting in September. I've always heard that nurses do a lot of heavy lifting and it's hard on their backs and lots of nurses get injured but I've never known exactly what kind of lifting they do they do. Is it mostly lifting patients? What amount of weight should I be expected to lift? What if I just can't lift someone? I have a back condition that makes me a bit slouched over (I'm 6'1 and I guess this condition can happen to tall females). I'm worried about making my back even worse. I've started to go to the gym and I'm working on strengthening my back but I'm worried it won't be enough. Also, I've heard of lifts that can be used to lift patients but I'm not sure how helpful they are or if all hospitals use them?
Thank you :)
Nurses turn, lift, reposition and ambulate patients. You may have to help haul someone out of a chair and then support them as they take a turn around the unit. In most places, you can get a colleague to help you with the lifting and turning, but you'll have to do your share.
You may have to help hold the leg of a 500 pound paraplegic patient while your colleague washes or changes a dressing. You may have to push hold a patient on his side while someone listens to his lungs, assesses his skin, changes a dressing or puts in an epidural.
If you work in an ICU, you may be crawling around on the floor locating an electric plug that doesn't have something plugged in, switching plugs (because that machine has a longer battery life than this one) or connecting tubing that passes under the bed, changing out chest tube cannisters, emptying urine drainage bags or locating the piece of some equipment that fell on the floor. You'll find yourself leaning over patients to assess dressings, listen to lung sounds or find the little white pill they've dropped into their bed. The five liter dialysis bags weigh five kilos -- and walking down the hall with four of them gets heavy. Or you could make a bunch of trips . . .
Beds are heavy, and sometimes you have to push them with a patient in them down to radiology or endoscopy or elsewhere. My husband worked on the transport team, and used to walk in excess of eight miles a day, all of it pushing a bed or a guerney.
You may be able to find a position where physical labor is minimal, but you'll need to get through school first, and possibly even put in a couple of years in Med/Surg before being considered for one of those low- manual labor specialties. That said, I worked for thirty years without injury. I injured my back, had surgery and was able to go back to the bedside after rehabbing. It was an interesting, challenging career and worth it.
I'm going to add chest compressions. My entire torso would be sore after doing compressions. Squatting, turning pts frequently, some lifting of equipment/supplies, transporting pts on their big, awkward beds, and miles of rapid walking.
It's really good you are being proactive with injury prevention.
I work in Critical Care and the unit now has ceiling lifts in every room, very convient for patient turns. The floor I worked on previously only have a few rooms with lifts installed, you had to find a buddy to help you move your patients, which can be time consuming.
The focus it seems is to limit the strain on the body for nurses, at least in our hospital. I know of two co-workers who both injured their backs when turning "heavy" patients, both required the same surgery, 1 was medically retired and the other came back to work and left for a less-body taxing position in an allergist office. With that being said, a lot if it falls onto the individual nurse, if you stay in shape you are less likey to injure yourself, but if don't, then you will be at a higher risk of injury.
I know it is hard for me to take heathcare professionals seriously when they themselves are not in shape and they tell their patients that they need to get into shape...guess "do as I say and not as I do" is running rampant in the heathcare system these days.
Nursing is very physical. Lotsa walking, lifting patients, moving equipment, repetitive motion, etc. Lifts, good body mechanics, teamwork, and strength training are excellent ways to keep yourself safe and uninjured. I will say that even if you do everything right, things happen, either with particularly heavy or uncooperative patients and machinery. Plus, the wear and tear of years of work will take their toll.
I'm 27, have been a nurse for two years and worked as a CNA for two years before that, and I can confidently say my back is jacked. I didn't get the proper strength training before getting into this work, so that certainly hasn't helped me. I'm glad you are taking what precautions you can now and are educating yourself. I wish you the best of luck in your career! ?
As an instructor I tell my students always get help, from your classmates, the staff anyone now-a-days. Do not try to lift a heavy person by yourself. Workers comp has way too many claims, and most hospitals try very hard to avoid them. Use the machines, slides, pull sheets, use ergonomics, etc.
Pulling people up in bed, helping transfer them to/from wheelchairs, lifting them off the floor when they fall ... and yes, you can get injured. I've hurt my back, L knee, and have had other aches/pains, but nothing that's lingered, really. You have to get help (don't lift people alone if you can help it), use Hoyers or sit-to-stands, whatever. And sometimes, if the patient can actually help themselves some, urge them to do it - it's better for them AND you. (Just be sure to know who can and who can't do that, and how much they can do).
brad30
8 Posts
250+lb intubated/sedated pts and q2turns = bad back