Will hospital cover you for back injuries?

[rlorenzo24]

I assume male nurses get called upon more often than not, to assist in lifting heavy patients. Doing this on a daily basis can contribute to lower back injury. If you do injure your back and, as a result, cannot work for a period of time, do you simply go on disability? Is the hospital going to be tolerant of the amount of time your absent? How much compassion do they really have for these types of injuries? What if you return, get asked to lift a patient again and for fear of upsetting your fellow female nurses, you injure your back again?

[Jolie, BSN]

No nurse should engage in unsafe lifting/transferring practices, regardless of gender.

Use of proper body mechanics, adequate numbers of personnel to reposition heavy patients and appropriate lifing devices will go a long way toward preventing injuries.

IF you are injured on the job, are able to document that the injury occurred at work and follow your employer's policy and procedure for reporting and treating such an injury, you will be entitled to Worker's Comp.

[llg, PhD, RN]

One of the problems is that the injuries don't occur during 1 single incident. A lot of damage results from "little" injuries that happen repeatedly over time. Such injuries don't present themselves as an "on the job" single event -- and may not be covered by the employer at all as a Worker's Comp case. In such a case, it's just you and your private health insurance and whatever disability insurance you have.

My experience is that as a general rule ... hospitals aren't real good about taking care of its staff when they are injured. They do only what the law absolutely requires and nothing more. If they did more, many many nurses would be getting some type of benefits to compensate for the wear and tear on their bodies over the years.