Safe Lifting Portal Website RE: Federal Nurse and Patient Safety Legislation Addresses Lifting Injuries

Too often family caregivers and paid caregivers may not realize the risks of injury from lifting loved ones or patients. Back, shoulder and knee injuries, arthritis, and other musculoskeletal problems can occur from lifting patients or family members. A look at healthcare professionals such as nurses shows they are at high risk for injuries from lifting patients. For example, at SafeLiftingPortal.com the statistics show "direct care nurses rank 10th among all occupations for musculoskeletal disorders, sustaining injuries at a higher rate than laborers, movers or truck drivers."

SafeLiftingPortal.com provides the news that HR 378, the Nurse and Patient Safety and Protection Act of 2007, proposes a Federal Grant Program to provide financial assistance to facilities to help with the purchase of safe patient handling equipment to reduce lifting injuries.

Injuries can occur from a single trauma or from repeated movement over a period of time. When a loved one is in need of assistance for transfers from the bed to the wheelchair, in the home, family members or friends may heroically provide help but put themselves at risk for an injury. Lifting devices are available for home care, and it is better to be careful than get a back, shoulder, knee or other injury from lifting someone. Even repositioning a person who is in bed can require lifting movements that may cause or exacerbate problems.

At SafeLiftingPortal.com there is information about what makes a safe lifting environment, about lifting products, news and more.

Caregivers Lifting Injuries - Sudden or Cumulative - May Result in Workers Compensation Claim

Caregivers can be at risk for injuries from lifting patients or clients. Injuries can occur from transferring people from beds to wheelchairs, providing lift assists to help people get up from chairs or into cars, or positioning and turning people in bed. Some injuries can be sudden, called "specific or traumatic." Other injuries can occur over a period of time due to wear and tear on joints and the back, called "cumulative trauma" or "continuous trauma injuries." This is also called a "repetitive motion" or "repetitive strain" injury.

As explained at Google Books and at Repetitive-Stress-Injuries.com you can read about the types of injuries that performing the same movements repeatedly can cause. Some of these include damage to muscles, nerves, ligaments, tendons, and bones.

The repetitive motion injuries are often treated by orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, neurosurgeons, physical and occupational therapists and vocational counselors.

Caregivers are at risk for lifting, transferring, and repositioning injuries to their back, knees, and other areas of the body used in lifting. Sudden injuries to the back from lifting can occur, as well as injuries that occur over a period of time from repeated motions of lifting.

If an employed caregiver believes an injury may have occurred then it is important to consult with an attorney and a Workers Compensation claim may be filed.

"Safe Lifting Environment" Campaign Addresses Caregiver Lifting Injuries

At Safe Lifting Portal caregivers can join the "Safe Lifting Environment Campaign and Support Injury Prevention, which is an industry wide effort to reduce caregiver injuries. Caregivers in the health industry have one of the highest rates of back injuries due to the lifting involved. An analysis done by The National Institute for Safety and Health recommends a 35 pound limit for patient handling tasks. Whether you are lifting people from the bed to a wheelchair, doing a partial lift for a transfer, or repositioning someone who is in bed there are techniques and lifting devices to prevent back injuries.


Tom Waters, Phd. in the August 2007 American Journal of Nursing refers to an analysis that recommends a 35 pound limit for patient handling. The analysis was done by the National Institute for Safety and Health.

At the website for Nursing Center you can read the article by Tom Water, PHd, about the 1994 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation and the recommended 35 pound maximum weight limit for patient handling.

When I worked for caregiver agencies it was not uncommon to be asked by a patient/client to do a total lift of a patient weighting around 100 pounds from the bed to the wheelchair. Because I had previous training as a Certified Nursing Assistant, Home Health Aide, and in Acute Care, I knew the dangers. I would decline to do a lift like this, and requested a lift device, which can be delivered to the home. Get more help and/or use a lift device when this happens in order to be safe. A patient or client could also be dropped or both people could fall during a heavy lift.

Often the patients do not wish to be lifted by a lift device, perhaps because it is a new and strange idea. Or the caregivers may not use one because they are not familiar with the lift device or trained in how to use it. In facilities the caregivers, aides, and nurses are working under a time pressure, and the lifts may be in use by someone else.

When the lift device is introduced in a user friendly manner, and the caregivers are trained well, it can become another part of the usual routine.

There is a list of states at the website which have passed or introduced legislation to reduce injuries from "hazardous manual lifting."

OSHA, the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration has released ergonomic guidelines for nursing homes with guidance to reduce lift injureis.

Family caregivers provide the majority of home care, and too frequently they do not realize the risks they are taking when they lift people from the bed to the wheelchair, or do transfers when people are too weak to assist. Repositioning people in bed, which requires leaning over and lifting is also a risk. But, there are lift devices that can do the work and save people from back injuries.

Frequently caregivers and their patients do not use safe lifting techniques due to lack of training and lack of familiarity with lift devices. For more information you can visit the The Safe Lifting Portal , which also has a section called "Ask the Lift Doctor" where you can submit your questions.

AARP Reports on Long Term Care Trends

A new report from the AARP says meeting the upcoming demands for workers in Long Term Care will be difficult without recruiting and retaining more workers. The report said that " low wages, low prestige and dangerous working conditions will have to improve to expand the number of workers who fill difficult tasks associated with LTC." At the website for the American Association of Retired Persons you can read their article titled Long Term Care Trends, Comparing Long Term Care in Germany and the United States: What Can We Learn From Each Other? The research paper is by Mary Jo Gibson, AARP Public Policy Institute, and Donald L. Redfoot, AARP Public Policy Institute.

The article said the United States has made progress in (1) shifting from institutions to home based care (2) "strong civil rights protections for people with disabilities, including protections against unnecessary institutionalization "(3) regulations and monitoring that has resulted in improvements in care quality and (4) innovation in areas such as assisted living.

In Germany progress has been made in (1) universal coverage based on disability not income, (2) consumer choice (3) support for family caregivers (4) relieving fiscal pressures on government while maintaining LTC spending similar to U.S. (5) and "developing uniform standards of quality."