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One of the major contributors to injuries related to the healthcare industry is the frequent heavy lifting and repositioning of persons that exceed the lifting capacity of most caregivers. There have been a great deal of studies showing that simply training caregivers how to practice good body mechanics just isn't enough to prevent injuries due to high risk for injury related to over-lifting while they're lifting the weight of an adult. Now if this weren't enough by itself, the risk is increased due to the nature of healthcare provider work environments, such as confined space in bathrooms, busy and cluttered rooms, and even furniture itself, they all provide barriers to proper use of good body mechanics. We've even seen that repositioning a patient in bed can be a risk for injury due to the size of the bed not allowing for the caregiver to bend at the knees and use their legs when they have so that they have good back posture. Now, due to these factors, there were almost a quarter of a million occupational related injuries reported, with an additional 343,000 jobs being created, between the time that report was put together and now, we know that these muscular, skeletal injuries to the back, the shoulder, the upper extremities, are all going to increase. There are many benefits to implementing an ergonomics and safe lifting program. But in order to realize these benefits, one must include worker training on the use of the lifting devices, a written lifting policy, as well as the proper lifting equipment itself. If you remove any one of these from the safe lifting program, you have a perfect set up for a lot of busy work without the beneficial results. So, what are those results? That's a great question, and one that I think has to be answered at the beginning of any health and safety or accident prevention program, in order for the rest of the education to be affective. So, let's take a closer look at three distinct beneficiaries of these benefits. First, the patients. When safe lifting and moving practices are implemented, the quality of care, the resident safety and overall comfort and satisfaction of service improves drastically, and that's what health care should be about, isn't it? So, secondly, the employer benefits. Not only does the safe and injury free lifting save tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in direct and indirect medical costs, it saves thousands of dollars in workers compensation rates, lost productivity from lost work days, and overtime in expense related to temp services or new hire costs. Stronger employment retention is another key facet to this. And let's face it, when businesses are growing and making money, there is job retention, and creation which leads to money circulation in society, and that just makes great economical sense. Now lastly, you benefit. And if you have a hard time understanding the importance of the last two reasons for lifting and moving safely, you should at least do it for you. A whole segment could be devoted to how much a soft tissue injury related to lifting or moving patients, can alter your lift style in an extremely negative way. But whether it's simply prevents you from doing the things you love to do that require a healthy body, or the devastating affects that chronic severe pain can cause, one thing is definitely for sure: If we as caregivers don't practice the principles explained in this training, injury is eminent, and will alter your lifestyle negatively, forever.
One of the major contributors of healthcare worker injury is the frequent heavy lifting and repositioning of persons that exceed the lifting capacity of most caregivers. The implementation of a safe lifting and moving people program can greatly reduce the risk of injury.