Introduction
About 80 percent of adults experience back pain at some point in their lifetime (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2015). It is the most common cause of work-related disability and a leading contributor to missed work days (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2015). In the United States, 38 percent of nurses and support staff (patient care technicians) suffered work -related back pain from patient handling tasks (repositioning and transfers) that were so severe, it required days away from work (American Nurses Association, 2010).
Back pain can be the result of a back injury and the pain can range in intensity from a dull, constant ache, to a sudden, sharp sensation that leaves the
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Hospitals benefit from valuable wisdom and experience their aging workforce offers. However, hospitals must contend with their aging workforce increase susceptibility to work-related back pain and injuries (Occupational Health and Safety Administration, 2013). The median age of hospital employees increased from 40.6 to 43.6 between 2000 and 2011 (Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 2013). With age, the body becomes more vulnerable to certain musculoskeletal disorders (Occupational Health and Safety Administration, 2013). Bones begin to weaken as people enter their 40s and 50s, increasing the probability of fractures and cumulative trauma while handling patients (National Institutes of Health, 2007). Aging decreases muscle elasticity, strength, tone, and reaction times (National Institutes of Health, 2007). The intervertebral discs begin to lose fluid and flexibility with age (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2015). Beyond age 65, half of the U.S. population suffers from arthritis, a wearing away of the cartilage in joints that result in painful movement which limits their physical work capacity to half that of a 25 year old (National Institutes of Health, 2007). Recovery time related to work- related injuries are prolonged by age (Hall & Ahmed, …show more content…
Therefore, hospitals across the nation have utilized various types of equipment to promote safe patient handling such as mechanical lifts, transfer chairs, specialty stretchers and beds, air transfer sheets, and slide sheets. SMART slide sheets are a low tech patient handling devices. SMART slide sheets cost less than $100 and are usable with all patient types, in all patient-care environments. These features make their use an attractive alternative for organizations seeking to implement a safe patient handling program. Nelson & Baptiste (2004) revealed that low-tech devices, like slide sheets help to prevent work related injury. By reducing the amount of force that nurses and support staff use when repositioning and transferring patients (Middleton,
Chronic pain is a long term condition, which means it cannot be cured, but the symptoms may be controlled by therapies and medications (Saxon and Lillyman, 2011). When pain is considered chronic, it lasts longer than the expected healing period and there may not be a clear cause (Kraaimaat and Evers, 2003).
Certified Nurse Assistants (CNAs) are caregivers that work close to the elderly patients, also called residents. The CNAs are responsible for taking viral signs and helping the residents with activities of the daily living, such as: bathing, walking, eating, toileting, dressing and transferring. Taking care of patients that are not able to perform common tasks, like using the bathroom, can be difficult. For that reason, a great number of CNAs get injured in their work setting every year. In order to minimize the risk of work-related injured inside long-term care facilities, the facility should impose a non-lift policy and increase the use of lift machines, such as hoyers.
The experience have had and learnt is that patient handling and movement works are physically demanding. This is because patients differ in weight, physical disability and also the level of co-operation of the patient. This becomes personal concern
The word “chiropractor” has two word origins, the Greek words cheir and praxis; meanwhile, cheir means “hand” and praxis means “practice.” Also, most of the work that chiropractors do is done by hand (Pike para. 5). In 2002, going to a chiropractor was found to be the most commonly used program for therapy. Seventy-four percent, about 4 million, of people that had back pain went to a chiropractor to get treated. Among that 74 percent of people, 66 percent of them stated that they got “a great benefit” (Pike para. 9). Many chiropractors work full time but 1 out of 3 chiropractors work part time. Chiropractors work whenever their patients need them, even on w...
Currently, I am involved in a prospective cohort study with other colleagues from King Fahad Medical City that aims to study the effect of a low back care educational program on low back pain prevalence among health-care professionals.
Because sciatica isn’t an actual medical diagnosis, but a result of a previous condition or injury, it is more difficult to make definite statistics of how many people have been subjected to sciatica. A more general classification of sciatica is lower back pain that is incredibly common for Americans. Lower back pain is the single leading cause of disability in Americans under 45 years old, according to the Global Burden of Disease 2010. The third leading cause of disability in people over 45 years of age is back pain. In fact, half of all working Americans admit to experiencing back pain each year, where 26 million Ameri...
The leading cause of injury to nursing and hospital staff is the repeated manual lifting, and lifting and transferring of patients. This increasing incident rates cost to healthcare organizations. “Safe Patient Handling” programs have become one of the top initiatives for healthcare organizations. With the help of this program, work-related injuries and injuries due to patient falls can be reduced. Hill-Rom’s high technologies, processes, and tools assist hospitals to enhance outcomes for patients.
Safety is a primary concern in the health care environment, but there are still many preventable errors that occur. In fact, a study from ProPublica in 2013 found that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year suffer preventable harm in the hospital (Allen, 2013). Safety in the healthcare environment is not only keeping the patient safe, but also the employee. If a nurse does not follow procedure, they could bring harm to themselves, the patient, or both. Although it seems like such a simple topic with a simple solution, there are several components to what safety really entails. Health care professionals must always be cautious to prevent any mishaps to their patients, especially when using machines or lifting objects, as it has a higher
Safety is focused on reducing the chance of harm to staff and patients. The 2016 National Patient Safety Goals for Hospitals includes criteria such as using two forms of identification when caring for a patient to ensure the right patient is being treated, proper hand washing techniques to prevent nosocomial infections and reporting critical information promptly (Joint Commission, 2015). It is important that nurses follow standards and protocols intending to patients to decrease adverse
Patient safety is a major issue in health care, especially in the public sector. Studies show that as many as 10 patients get harmed daily as they receive care in stroke rehabilitation wards in hospitals in the United States alone. Patient safety refers to mechanisms for preventing patients from getting harmed as they receive health care services in hospitals. The issue of patient safety is usually associated with factors such as medication errors, wrong-site surgery, health care-acquired infections, falls, diagnostic errors, and readmissions. Patient safety can be improved through strategies such as improving communication within hospitals, increasing patient involvement, reporting adverse events, developing protocols and guidelines, proper management of human resources, educating health-care providers on the need for patient protection, and commitment of the leadership to the task. This paper talks about patient safety and how it can be improved in stroke rehabilitation wards of both public and private hospitals.
Hasenbring, M.I., Rusu, A.C., & Turk, D.C. (2012). From Acute to Chronic Back Pain: risk factors, mechanisms, and clinical implications: Oxford: OUP Oxford.
Approximately one-third of cases average 8-23 days of time away from work and one-third are results of musculoskeletal disorders” (Deirdre Daley, 2013). As of the publication of this article the number, duration and cost of work-related musculoskeletal problems illustrated the need for Physical Therapist in an occupational/industrial healthcare setting. The skill set of Physical Therapist is ideal for improving efforts related to implementation and facilitation of wellness and prevention programs, restoring functional performance and incorporating return to work plans. Physical Therapist also have the skill set to evaluate workers, improve stay at work and return to work outcomes as well as work toward educating workers on importance of maintaining health, especially in the area of chronic illness such as diabetes and cardiovascular
As the population of the United States ages and lifespan increases, the U.S. is being faced with challenges that could either hurt the country or benefit it if plans are executed correctly. By the year 2050, more than thirty-two million Americans will be over the age eighty and the share of the 80-plus generation will have doubled to 7.4 percent. Health care and aging population has become a great deal considering the impact it is having on the U.S. The United States is heading into another century with an outstanding percentage of people within the aging population. Today’s challenges involving health care and the aging populations are the employees of health professions being a major percentage of the aging population, the drive into debt, and prevention and postponement of disease and disability.
The rate of errors and situations are seen as chances for improvement. A great degree of preventable adversative events and medical faults happen. They cause injury to patients and their loved ones. Events are possibly able to occur in all types of settings. Innovations and strategies have been created to identify hazards to progress patient and staff safety. Nurses are dominant to providing an atmosphere and values of safety. As an outcome, nurses are becoming safety leaders in the healthcare environment(Utrich&Kear,
Physiotherapy is the study of the movement and function of the human anatomy and the relationship between the persons’ health and wellbeing (Dhrs.uct.ac.za, 2015). A physiotherapist’s speciality is treating “individuals across the life-span who have illness, injury or disability affecting the neuro-musculoskeletal, cardiopulmonary, vascular, and neurological systems” (Ontario Physiotherapy Association, 2015:3). A physiotherapist’s main goal is for their patient to receive the highest level of independence by educating patients how to “prevent reoccurring injuries” that disrupt their daily routine (Ontario Physiotherapy Association, 2015:3). Physiotherapists would deal with “long term ailments” (Zweigenthal et al., 2009:235) that cannot simply be treated with the dosage of medication but with the dedication from both the physiotherapist and patient in the appointed interactive physical sessions, a treatment plan can be formulated to guarantee the most efficient road to