Musculoskeletal Symptoms in Nurses in the Early Implementation Phase of California's Safe Patient Handling Legislation

Abstract

Musculoskeletal injuries and symptoms are prevalent in nurses and are largely associated with strenuous patient handling. In 2011, California enacted legislation that required acute-care hospitals to implement safe patient handling (SPH) policies and programs. To assess the early phase of this legislation, we conducted an epidemiological assessment of organizational SPH practices, musculoskeletal symptoms, and perceptions in a random sample of 396 registered nurses. Among those who worked in hospitals and had patient handling duties (n = 220), the 12 month prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal symptoms was 69% (lower back 54%, neck 41%, shoulders 34%, and hands/wrists 26%). Twenty-two percent of the nurses reported that their hospitals had a "no-lift" policy, 37% reported that their hospitals had lift teams, and 61% reported the availability of mechanical lift equipment such as floor or ceiling lifts. Nurses whose facilities employed lift teams were significantly less likely to report low back pain (OR = 0.54, 95% CI [0.30-0.97]). Nurses whose units had ceiling lifts were significantly less likely to report shoulder pain than nurses with no access to lifts (OR = 0.32, 95% CI [0.10-0.98]). Roughly 60% of respondents were aware of the SPH law, and 33% reported changes in their hospital's patient handling policies or programs since the law went into effect. Hospital SPH practices reported by the nurses in our sample were generally sub-optimal, but our findings suggest positive effects of elements required by SPH legislation. These data will serve as the baseline for future evaluation of the impact of this law in California.

Low back pain among nurses in Slovenian hospitals: cross‐sectional study

“…Measures such as a no‐lift policy, safe equipment, training, patient handling protocols and co‐workers demonstrating safe practices have yielded the best results (Lee et al. ; Powell‐Cope et al. ; Theis & Finkelstein ).…”

“…International perspectives for prevention of LBP According to these data and other research evidence (Campo & Darragh 2012;Letvak et al 2012;Taghinejad et al 2015;Yilmaz & Dedeli 2012), managing LBP is a good way to raise nurses' work productivity, improve patient safety, reduce healthcare costs and provide knowledge and skills on LBP to nurses. Safe patient handling policies and programmes have been introduced in the last decades in many developed countries (Andersen et al 2014;Briggs et al 2015;Lee et al 2015;Lidgren et al 2014;Powell-Cope et al 2014;Speerin et al 2014). Measures such as a no-lift policy, safe equipment, training, patient handling protocols and co-workers demonstrating safe practices have yielded the best results (Lee et al 2015;Powell-Cope et al 2014;Theis & Finkelstein 2014).…”

“…Safe patient handling policies and programmes have been introduced in the last decades in many developed countries (Andersen et al 2014;Briggs et al 2015;Lee et al 2015;Lidgren et al 2014;Powell-Cope et al 2014;Speerin et al 2014). Measures such as a no-lift policy, safe equipment, training, patient handling protocols and co-workers demonstrating safe practices have yielded the best results (Lee et al 2015;Powell-Cope et al 2014;Theis & Finkelstein 2014). Briggs et al (2015) investigated Australian models of care (MoC) for musculoskeletal health which demonstrate how to meet requirements within an existing system, reporting: 'As such, MoCs serve as a vehicle to drive evidence into policy and practice at a jurisdictional level' (Briggs et al 2015, p. 2).…”

“…According to international approaches for LBP prevention and management, and according to EU recommendations (Andersen et al 2014;Briggs et al 2015; Council Directive 90/269/EEC; Lee et al 2015;Lidgren et al 2014;Powell-Cope et al 2014;Speerin et al 2014), Slovenian healthcare system planning needs a national strategy to successfully promote LBP preventive and controlling strategies. Measures should be oriented towards eliminating or reducing risks for LBP incidents and towards different strategies, guidelines and actions which empower individuals and provide knowledge (Council Directive 90/269/EEC).…”

“…Indeed, MSDs could be termed 'an epidemic in nursing' (Nutty 2014). For this reason, LBP tends to be addressed through different health and safety procedures, strategies and interventions in hospitals where safe patient handling has been introduced over the last decades in many countries (Andersen et al 2014;Briggs et al 2015;Lee et al 2015;Lidgren et al 2014;Powell-Cope et al 2014). The European Union (EU) outlines the basic principles of LBP prevention and treatment in Council Directive 90/269/EEC.…”