March 2000 | Journal of Healthcare Safety, Compliance & Infection Control™
Abstract: Results of a one-year study to evaluate a method to reduce back injury in nursing in an acute-care facility. The method used a pre-existing transport team as a lift team and added the proper amount of mechanical patient-lifting equipment. The heath care facility cross-trained a transport team to become the designated patient lifters. Nurses were instructed by policy to not lift patients (manual lifting was forbidden). Two days of modified duty were reported during the study year for a total compensable injury cost of $336, compared with $23,000 and $63,000 in the two years prior to the study.
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