Introducing American nurses association's interdisciplinary safe patient handling and mobility national standards

This session will introduce and describe the American Nurses Association's groundbreaking Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM) National Standards. The groundbreaking standards will be released in the summer of 2013. The goal of the Standards is to establish a uniform, national foundation for SPHM programs to reduce healthcare worker and patient injuries. The Standards were developed by a national interdisciplinary working group of subject matter experts which included nurses, nursing assistants, ergonomists, economists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, equipment vendors, and several others. The national standards are intended to be interdisciplinary/ applicable across a variety of settings; realistic and attainable, but raising the bar; evidence-based and outcomes-focused; ready to be incorporated into practices, policies, procedures, and regulation; disseminated with toolkits, model language, and other resources. This session will provide an overview of the eight Standards and examples of implementing the Standards within the workplace. Content areas include creating a culture of safety, guidelines for implementing and sustaining a program, incorporating Prevention through Design, managing technological resources, educating and training staff, and evaluating the program. The presentation will prepare the learner to begin applying the Standards to enhance or implement Safe Patient handling and Mobility efforts within the workplace.