Recommended Citation
Bogun-Dzioban M, Desena E. Keeping our team members safe - "One lift at a time." Quality Improvement poster presented at Nursing Passion: Re-Igniting the Art & Science, Advocate Aurora Health Nursing & Research Conference 2022; November 9, 2022; virtual.
Presentation Notes
Quality Improvement poster presented at Nursing Passion: Re-Igniting the Art & Science, Advocate Aurora Health Nursing & Research Conference 2022; November 9, 2022; virtual.
Abstract
Background: Occupational injuries associated with nurses frequently involve the musculoskeletal system with many injures resulting from manual lifting and boosting patients (Spruce, 2020). A safe patient handling program may reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries for nursing staff (Osborn et al., 2020).
Local Problem: Nursing team members at Advocate Sherman Hospital (ASH) did not consistently utilize the new patient transfer devices when repositioning and mobilizing patients which contributed to increased number of team member injuries. In 2020, ASH had 25 nurse staff injures due to patient handling.
Method: In March 2021, ASH launched a new safe patient handling (SPH) committee with the purpose to decrease the rate of nurse injuries. The group determined the root cause for majority of nurse injures was related to repositioning or transferring patients due to not using the proper equipment or using it incorrectly. This committee sponsored a SPH kick-off day with education of equipment available by rounding to each inpatient nursing unit in April 2021. The group also implemented placing patient slide equipment in each inpatient and emergency department patient room for the SPH equipment to be readily available for any patient transfer or repositioning. The group also created an investigation and follow up form to be completed with each injured team member. The SPH committee was then able to review each case to look for opportunities for improvement.
Results/Conclusions: Before the SPH Committee implemented their interventions in 2021, we had 16 nurse injures. ASH decreased the amount of SPH nurse injures with only three nurse staff injures from August to December 2021 with the education and placing SPH equipment to be readily available for staff to utilize.
Implications for Practice: When hospitals establish a SPH program, staff injury rates decrease (Adamczyk, 2018). Creating this new committee helped the interdisciplinary team with an avenue to share lessons learned from team member injures to prevent future injuries from occurring.
Document Type
Poster
Affiliations
Sherman Hospital