Safe Patient Handling and Movement: A Practical Guide for Health Care Professionals

Did you know that an estimated 12% of nurses leave the profession annually because of back injuries and that over half of RNs complain of chronic back pain?

This book presents best practices in safe patient handling and movement. Nurse and hospital administrators, clinicians, clinical managers, risk managers, and those involved in procurement and implementation of patient handling technologies in the health care environment will find this a practical resource for improving care and protecting staff from unnecessary injury.

You will come away from reading this book with information that you can employ in a variety of work environments--hospitals, nursing homes, home care, and other health care organizations--whatever your practice setting may be.

Caregiver safety approaches include:


• Evidence-based standards for safe patient movement and prevention of musculoskeletal injuries
• An overview of available equipment and technology
• Architectural designs for ergonomically safe patient care space
• Institutional policies, such as use of lift teams

Audrey L. Nelson, PhD, RN, FAAN, is Director of the Veterans Administration Patient Safety Research Center and has more than 28 years of experience in nursing. She currently serves as the Associate Chief of Nursing Service for Research at the Tampa VA and Director of the Tampa Patient Safety Center of Inquiry. Dr. Nelson is Associate Director of Clinical Research at the University of South Florida College of Nursing and is a Research Professor in the Colleges of Public Health and Engineering. She is a national leader in patient safety and has established and chairs the International Research Consortium on Wandering.