Part 39 of Work Safety and Health Regulations (WHS) outlines the safe work procedures, mostly secure patient handling; health practitioners should follow that in all healthcare settings. Safe patient transfer in acute settings is attributed to improved wellbeing for both patients and healthcare workers, hence creating a safe patient handling program. This review explores safe patient transfer in acute settings and its importance in injury reduction in patients and medical practitioners.
Methods
An electronic search was conducted from websites like the United States Department of Labor, US National Library of Medicine, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, and International Journal of Nursing Studies. Data relating to safe patient handling and transfer in the acute care setting was extracted.
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Results and Discussion
Previous studies on patient transfer in acute care settings uncovered a high prevalence of injuries in patients and healthcare workers. Injuries result from frequently operating in obdurate postures and heavy manual lifting during patient repositioning and transfer and account for 20.7% of all musculoskeletal cases among nurses in the United States, forcing 47% of the nurses per year to consider leaving the professional due to intensive physical requirements (Kulshrestha and Singh, 2016). Injuries most often reported by health workers involve sprains and strains. Body parts most affected by injuries include the lower back, hands, and shoulders (Dennerlein et al., 2017). Conversely, pressure injuries, lacerations, fracture, traumatic brain injuries, or even death are some of the patients’ injuries that can occur when unsafe transfer techniques are used
The use of ergonomic devices and modern mechanical lifts like power grips, squat lifts, and power lifts is seen as the safest means of preventing injuries during patient transfer in acute settings (Vinstrup et al., 2017). However, manually lifting the patients and using manual lifts like shoulder lifts, cradle lifts, and drag lifts are unsafe patient movement techniques that may cause injuries.
Safe patient transfer using safe techniques and equipment in acute settings helps protect patients from dropping, being entangled, or getting severe injuries inflicted by the use of unsafe equipment. Furthermore, musculoskeletal injuries among healthcare workers are significantly reduced with the use of safe patient transfer techniques. Besides, it helps reduce injury-related costs that accrue to healthcare workers and patients who sustain injuries. Massachusetts only spends an average of $14710 on injuries arising from patient handling (United States Department Of Labor, 2017). It also prevents long sick leaves for medical workers as they wait to recuperate from the injuries they sustain in their workplaces, forcing 12-18% of nurses to resign (Hegewald et al., 2018). As such, the use of safe transfer techniques reduces the number of lost workdays. Low image for hospitals, involved medical workers, and the medical fraternity is also prevented when safe transfer techniques are used. Patients also feel comfortable and safe while the level of depression, physical functioning, and general wellbeing improves significantly.
Conclusion
Patient transfer in an acute care setting should be carried out using specialized modern mechanical equipment because manual techniques lead to patient and health care worker injuries. As such, it is vital for the hospital to robust patient care programs.
References
Dennerlein, J. T., O'Day, E. T., Mulloy, D. F., Somerville, J., Stoddard, A. M., Kenwood, C., ... & Hashimoto, D. (2017). Lifting and exertion injuries decrease after implementation of an integrated hospital-wide safe patient handling and mobilisation programme. Occupational and environmental medicine , 74 (5), 336-343.
Hegewald, J., Berge, W., Heinrich, P., Staudte, R., Freiberg, A., Scharfe, J., ... & Seidler, A. (2018). Do technical aids for patient handling prevent musculoskeletal complaints in health care workers?—A systematic review of intervention studies. International journal of environmental research and public health , 15 (3), 476.
Kulshrestha, A., & Singh, J. (2016). Inter-hospital and intra-hospital patient transfer: Recent concepts. Indian journal of anaesthesia , 60 (7), 451.
United States Department Of Labor. (2017). Healthcare - Safe Patient Handling | Occupational Safety and Health Administration . Osha. https://www.osha.gov/healthcare/safe-patient-handling
Vinstrup, J., Madeleine, P., Jakobsen, M. D., Jay, K., & Andersen, L. L. (2017). Patient transfers and risk of back injury: protocol for a prospective cohort study with technical measurements of exposure. JMIR research protocols , 6 (11), e212.
