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When we're talking about moving people from one surface to another using a draw sheet mechanism, this is probably one of the biggest hurdles that care providers have when it comes to soft tissue injuries and back problems, because in many cases this is the ultimate push-pull situation. And care providers, care workers, will inevitably get themselves into these positions where it is really not set up for proper ergonomics. And in these cases, utilizing your proper basic body mechanics and proper ergonomics is going to be key to saving your back and your livelihood. In this demonstration, we're going be demonstrating how to move an average size person from one surface to the other. An important note to make here is that whenever possible, we want to make sure that the receiving surface and the sending surface are absolutely parallel, as much as possible, or slightly dropped. The receiving surface would be just slightly dropped below the sending surface, so as to not have something we have to lift up over to get the person from one position to the next. We're going to be using a very common method of using, where the person is lying, all of their current sheets off from that surface to use like a hammock and a draw sheet. But this is always going to require at least another provider or helper to help draw the person over. If you have the extra personnel to be able to have feet help and head help, that's ideal. The more hands, the less effort, the less likely we're going to have an accident and an injury. In this case though, in many cases pre-hospital, and in areas like home healthcare, where you really only have limited care help, this is probably the most common setup. Two people, a person who needs to be moved from one surface to the next. So this is what we're going to use to demonstrate. The goal here again is to make sure that all of the sending sheets and blankets are pulled up away from the bed or the surface itself. We're going to roll the sides of the sheets to make them into good sturdy handles. This is a person who's actually fairly aware of what's going on. Some people will be unconscious or unresponsive, and so therefore, we simply verbalize what we're going to do, just out of habit and out of consideration that they may still be able to hear us, so that they understand what we're doing. It's always a good practice. But in this case, they can understand us. I am making eye contact with the person, and I can describe to them some of the things that they're going to feel and some of the important considerations, like holding onto your arms and don't let go, because reaching out may make us lose our balance. And we don't want that to happen. So please hold your arms to yourselves. Another thing too, if you have legs that just won't stay together, you could cross them, unless there's hip or leg injury involvement. In this case, he's doing a fine job, so we're gonna leave it just like that. I prefer to have the under-grip method, because now I'm using biceps and shoulders and power muscles to be able to help me compensate for the lack of leverage in moving this person. The goal here is to slide the person as close to the edge as possible. One person makes all the calls on the move, much like we demonstrated in a different place with proper lifting techniques. So on the count of three we're going to move the person half-way. One, two, three. And now I can move my knees closer to the person, get a better ergonomic grip, looking up the ceiling to keep our back straight, on the count of three, go right to the first surface on your level. You ready sir, we're gonna move you on the count of three. One, two, three. You'll notice how the momentum pulled me forward. There's nothing I can do about it. That's where the greatest risk for back injury is going to be. That's why pre-stretching and exercise is vital. So that you have a strong muscle compensation to be able to handle those moves. And now we're simply going to try, if we cannot move the stretcher into a different place, or they're not far enough off the edge to be able to move the stretcher away, we're gonna go ahead and move a little further over. One, two, three. And now we can move the stretcher away. I can get off this upper surface. And we can make sure that this person is completely comfortable, secure, and then we can move the sheets and the bedding out from underneath them. They might be wet, that's why we're using gloves. There might be body fluids, blood, fecal matter, urine, we're not sure. So we're always going to be aware of the fact that this might be a contaminated surface, and I may have to decontaminate afterwards. But the main purpose here is to do the best we can in moving a person from one surface to the other, protecting our backs and bodies, and making sure that this person is safe throughout the whole move.
One of the most difficult situations care-providers have that tests the limits of proper ergonomics is transferring a person from a bed. As much as possible, use proper ergonomics and take some precautions. Using a draw-sheet is very helpful. Position the receiving surface even or just slightly lower than the patients surface.