Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #115115

Butch De Castro, PhD, MSN/MPH, RN, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, American Nurses Association, 8515 Georgia Avenue, Suite 400, Silver Spring, MD 20910, 301-628-5138, Bdecastro@ana.org, Nancy N. Menzel, PhD, APRN-BC, College of Nursing, Healthcare Environments and Systems, University of Florida, PO Box 100187, Gainesville, FL 32610, Audrey Nelson, PhD, RN, FAAN, Patient Safety Center of Inquiry, Tampa Veterans Administration, 11605 North Nebraska Avenue, Tampa, FL 33612, Carol Sedlak, PhD, RN, ONC, College of Nursing, Kent State University, Henderson Hall, Kent, OH 44242, and Tom Waters, PhD, CPE, Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Section, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, (MS-C24), 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226.

Nurses have long suffered from back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders that result from the physically demanding tasks of manually lifting, transferring, and repositioning patients. The risk for injury associated with manual patient handling among professional nursing personnel is perpetuated by the continued teaching of so-called “proper” body mechanics and manual techniques to nursing students during academic preparation and training. Persistence of this practice instills outdated approaches for patient handling among students and contributes to the continued incidence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders after they enter the workforce. Considering recent scientific evidence and technologic innovation (mechanical lifting equipment), methods that make patient handling safe and ergonomically-sound are now available. To address this, the American Nurses Association, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the Tampa Veterans Administration Patient Safety Center have jointly coordinated a pilot project to develop and evaluate a safe patient handling curriculum module that can be incorporated into fundamental nursing education. This presentation will describe the rationale, components, and preliminary findings of this project which involves twenty-six nursing schools geographically spread across the U.S. and ranging from community colleges to universities. By directing efforts during the critical learning period for nursing students, the project seeks to change the culture of patient handling and ensure that best practices are implemented within nursing education.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe how manual patient handling impacts rates of injury and retention/recruitment among nurses.
• Discuss how safe patient handling technology serves as an effective engineering control in healthcare settings.
• Identify components of the ANA/NIOSH/Tampa VA Patient Safety Center pilot project and their strategic relevance to prevent injury among future cohorts of professional nurses.
• Recognize the need to incorporate evidence-based practice into the training and education of nurses.

Keywords: Ergonomics, Nurses

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.