Patient Lifting Research Articles

A biomechanical and ergonomic evaluation of patient transferring tasks: wheelchair to shower chair and shower chair to wheelchair

A laboratory study was conducted to evaluate five different manual techniques (two-person manual lifting; rocking and pulling the patient using a gait belt with two persons; walking belt with one and two persons) and three different mechanical hoists (Hoyer lift, Trans-Aid and Ambulift) for transferring patients from wheelchair to shower chair and shower chair to wheelchair. Six female nursing students with prior patient transfer experience served both as nurses and as passive patients. Static biomechanical evaluation showed that the mean trunk flexion moments, erector spinae muscle forces and compressive and shear forces at the L5S1 disc for the four pulling methods ranged from 92 to 125 Nm, 1845 to 2507 N, 1973 to 2641 N and 442 to 580 N, respectively, as compared to about 213 Nm, 4260 N, 5050 N and 926 N for two-person manual lifting. Perceived stress ratings for the shoulder, upper back, lower back and whole body were significantly lower for pulling methods than those for lifting the patient (p less than or equal to 0.01). Patients found pulling techniques, except the gait belt, to be more comfortable and secure than the lifting method (p less than or equal to 0.01). However, most of the nurses believed that Medesign and the one-person walking belt would not work on those patients who cannot bear weight and those who are heavy, contracted or combative. A two-person walking belt was the most preferred method. Two out of three hoists (Hoyer lift and Trans-Aid) were perceived by the nurses to be more stressful than one- and two-person walking belts. The patients found these two hoists to be more uncomfortable and less secure than with three of the five manual methods (one- and two-person walking belts and Medesign). Pulling techniques and hoists took significantly longer amounts of time to make the transfer than manually lifting the patient (p less than or equal to 0.01). The two-person walking belt, using a gentle rocking motion to utilize momentum and a pulling technique, and Ambulift are recommended for transferring patients from wheelchair to shower chair and shower chair to wheelchair.

A biomechanical and ergonomic evaluation of patient transferring tasks: bed to wheelchair and wheelchair to bed

A laboratory study was conducted in an effort to reduce back stress for nursing personnel while performing the patient handling tasks of transferring the patient from bed to wheelchair and wheelchair to bed. These patient handling tasks were studied using five manual techniques and three hoist-assisted techniques. The manual techniques involved one-person and two-person transfers. One manual technique involved a two-person lift of the patient under the arms; the others used a rocking and pulling action and included the use of assistive devices (a gait belt using a two-person transfer, a walking belt with handles using a one-person and a two-person transfer, and a patient handling sling with cutout areas to allow for a hand grip (Medesign) for a one-person transfer). The three mechanical hoists were Hoyer, Trans-Aid and Ambulift. Six female nursing students with prior patient transfer experience served both as nurses and as passive patients. Static biomechanical evaluation showed that pulling techniques, as compared to lifting the patient, required significantly lower hand forces and produced significantly lower erector spinae and compressive forces at the L5/S1 disc (P greater than or equal to 0.01). Shear force, trunk moments and the percentage of females who were capable of performing the transfers (based on static strength simulation) also favoured pulling methods. Perceived stress ratings for the shoulder, upper back, lower back and whole body were lower for pulling methods than those for lifting the patient (P less than or equal to 0.01). Patients found the pulling techniques, with the exception of when using the gait belt, felt more comfortable and more secure than the lifting method (P less than or equal to 0.01). However, a number of subjects believed that the patient handling sling (Medesign) and the walking belt with one person making the transfer would not work for those patients who could not bear weight and those who were heavy, contracted or combative. A walking belt with two persons was the preferred manual method. Two out of three hoists (Hoyer lift and Trans-Aid) were perceived by the nurses to be as physically stressful as manual methods. Patients found these two hoists to be more uncomfortable and felt less secure than with three of the five manual methods (one- and two-person walking belts and Medesign). Ambulift was found to be the least stressful, the most comfortable, and the most secure among all eight methods. Pulling techniques and hoists took significantly longer amounts of time to make the transfer than manually lifting the patient (P less than or equal to 0.01). The two-person walking belt using a pulling technique and Ambulift are recommended for transferring patients from bed to wheelchair and wheelchair to bed. A large-scale field study is needed to verify these recommendations.

Patient Lift Manufacturer Plans Training Video to Augment Safety Alert

Patient Lift Manufacturer Plans Training Video to Augment Safety Alert

Patient Lifts Evaluated

Patient Lifts Evaluated

Single-handed patient lifting made easier with new device

Single-handed patient lifting made easier with new device

Patient Lift System Hazard Reported In Canada

Patient Lift System Hazard Reported In Canada

Aid for heavy, single handed lifting.

A lifting aid which the manufacturers claim allows patients to be raised single handed from a sitting position, has been produced by Medical and Surgical Supply Limited. The Somerquip Patient Lifting Aid can be used for moving immobilised or heavy patients to a standing or sitting position.

介助ロボットのための患者抱き上げ装置

This paper describes a patient lifting arm for use on patient care robots. This device is designed to be installed on a locomotion vehicle for use in medical facilities. By changing the configuration from that of a wheel chair to a stretcher shape, when a slide plate can be inserted between the patient and the bed, it becomes possible to lift the patient. A belt-equipped slide plate construction has been employed to ensure that the patient is not subjected to any discomfort, and new functions, such as two-stage lifting action, have been added. Sensor based control provides automatic lifting of the patient while detecting the positions of the patient and the bed. In addition, for use as the sensor device, we developed a large-size two-dimensional tactile sensor using the pressure sensitive conductive rubber sheet.

Patient lifting aid for confined spaces

Patient lifting aid for confined spaces

Who's first.

I would like to dispute the report (Nursing Standard week ending March 19) that Kingston & Esher Health Authority have appointed the NHS's first ever adviser on safe lifting and handling of patients.

Incidence of low back injuries among nursing personnel as a function of patient lifting frequency

Occupational back injuries among nursing personnel are common. Although numerous factors affect risk, a widely recognized (but poorly documented) factor is exposure to patient lifting. Due to a lack of adequate documentation in the research literature, this investigation was undertaken to examine the relationship between the frequency of patient lifting and the frequency of back injuries. A major medical center was used to collect retrospective data on three work groups: (a) licensed practical nurses, (b) nurses' aides, and (c) attendants (orderlies). From these employees, two exposure groups were identified: one group exposed to frequent patient lifting and a control group of nursing personnel who infrequently lift patients. The reported back pain incidents of the two groups were then statistically compared. The statistical procedures used were logistic regression and survival analysis. Both comparisons showed significant differences between exposure groups. From this analysis, it appears that patient lifting frequency is indeed a significant causative factor in the production of low back injuries in nursing personnel.

Safety design electronic chair and sling lift

Safety design electronic chair and sling lift

Aching Backs? A Glimpse into the Hazards of Nursing

This study evaluates a combination of extant and collected data that compute frequency and exposure to back injuries reported by nursing employees at a Northwest Medical Center system. A major problem of interest, and the focus of this study is whether there is objective evidence to support the commonly held belief that lifting patients is the main cause of back injuries experienced by nurses; and whether job classification and worksite unit might be confounded with back injuries reported and what demographic characteristics of the nursing personnel, e.g., sex, age, job classification, and worksite unit, might be confounded with occupations that are high at risk for back injuries. Personnel records and injury report forms provided objective data for 659 registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and nurse aides. Injury report forms providing data for 123 nursing personnel filed during the most recent consecutive twelve-month period between January 1, 1982 and April 30, 1985, were abstracted, summarized, and analyzed for number of back injuries reported using DataBase III and SPSSx computer programs on an IBM-AT system. In addition, on-site observations of patient lifts were made for ten eight-hour shifts on 15 different occasions and different worksites by a nurse-research analyst. These observation data were compared with self-report questionnaire responses representing over 54% of the total population of nurses within this medical center system. An inverse relationship of reported numbers of patient lift per shift was found for the observation and self-report data. Of the 2.5 females to males reporting back injuries, the average age was 43 years, with greater numbers of those injuries working on surgical and medical units versus lesser numbers injured from psychiatry and long-term care units in decreasing order. The Chi-square test was used to compute associations found not significant between reported high and low numbers of lifts and the incidence of back injuries. The t-test compared data from the observed and self-reported number of patient lifts and provided a significant (t = p <.001) difference in favor of self-report for number of lifts per eight-hour shift. Results of this study will contribute to increasing validity of lifting patients resulting in back injuries and further study of feasible and effective methods for evaluating back injuries and preventive interventions for nursing personnel who are at high risk of developing or sustaining back injury from any cause, while on the job.

An on-the-job method to evaluate patient lifting technique

Two frequently used patient transfer techniques were task analysed. An observational system, incorporating these analyses, was developed to evaluate systematically the safety with which nurses, aides and attendants lifted and transferred physically handicapped patients. The reliability, cost effectiveness and practical application of this procedure are discussed.

Intra-abdominal Pressure and Trunk Muscle Activity During Lifting. II. Chronic Low-Back Patients

The aim of this study was to compare trunk muscle strength and intra-abdominal pressure during lifting in low-back patients and in healthy controls. Twenty male workers with 2-18 year history (median 5. 5 years) of low-back pain went through strength tests of trunk flexion and extension and a series of standardized lifts. The intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) and the EMG activity of the oblique abdominal muscles and of the erector spinae muscles were recorded. The results were compared with those in 20 healthy men exposed to similar loads at work and at leisure. The low-back patients had reduced abdominal muscle strength (-25%) compared with the healthy controls. The IAP during lifting was the same in the two groups despite the difference in abdominal muscle strength. The trunk extension strength was the same in the two groups. The oblique abdominal muscles were only moderately activated during lifting (5-15% of maximum activity with 25 kg) both in low-back patients and in healthy controls. The erector spinae muscle was strongly activated during lifting (40-60% of maximum activity with 25 kg) both in low-back patients and in healthy controls. During backlifting the duration of erector spinae activity varied. Back patients had extended activity compared with the healthy controls. Stiffness seemed to affect the duration of activity in both groups. The oblique abdominal muscles seem to be of no decisive importance to the IAP.

Patient lifting devices in hospitals

Patient lifting devices in hospitals

Stress on the eyeball caused by mechanical vibration. Studies of patient transport and experimental models

The acceleration forces which occur in the eye and in the head region in transport of patients were investigated. It was to be established whether the finding often deteriorates appreciably in perforating eye injuries between the accident site and the ophthalmological operating theater. The investigation showed that smaller acceleration forces become active in the eye in the sitting position than in the lying position in patient transport. In transport in the hospital area, e.g., in the patient lift and on a stretcher, the maximum acceleration amplitudes which occur are greater than those occurring in the ambulance.--In the second part of the study, the region of the eyeball most sensitive to oscillation was determined experimentally in cadaver eyes in order to permit an evaluation of the acceleration parameters relevant in patient transport. It was shown that the eye is largely insensitive to the accelerations occurring in patient transport. It was shown that the eye is largely insensitive to the accelerations occurring in patient transport. Furthermore, it was shown that a vitreous prolapse cannot occur for this reason in an experimentally induced sclera injury.--Therefore, deteriorations in the condition of the bulb occurring in patient transport are due to movements of the eyelid and eyeball.

Hospital ward patient lifting tasks : Ergonomics, Nov 1979, 22.11, 1257–1273.

Hospital ward patient lifting tasks : Ergonomics, Nov 1979, 22.11, 1257–1273.

Atrial function during volume loading.

Atrial function during volume loading.

STRAIN INJURIES IN HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES 1

The injury registers in three Repatriation General Hospitals have been analysed in order to determine the size and nature of the problem of strain injuries associated with manual handling in hospitals. Over the two-year period reviewed, these injuries were by far the greatest contributor to time loss from accident, and handling, particularly lifting of patients, was by far the most commonly reported source of the injuries. Means of dealing with the problem are briefly outlined.