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Muscular skeletal injuries resulting from bed pushing are expensive, disruptive, painful and – preventable. Costs include workers’ compensation payouts, insurance premiums as well as out-of-pocket costs and the pain and suffering experienced by injured staff. Beyond these direct costs, healthcare staff injuries impact organizational efficiency and productivity by reducing staff retention and moral.
In the health care sector, manual handling injuries are the most common type of injury – accounting for 33%-55% of all injuries. |
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Injuries decline with increased use of bed movers |
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| Bed moving injuries at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital were reduced to zero following the introduction of StaminaLift Bed Movers. |
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Bed Moving Injuries are Preventable
In 2002 the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia recorded 20 bed pushing related injuries. Seeking to solve the related problems of staff fatigue, injury and absences, Senior OHS Advisor, Eric Hofmanis, introduced StaminaLift Bed Movers. By 2005, nearly all bed moves were performed using a StaminaLift Bed Mover and the injury rate had fallen 100%. This zero injury rate has been maintained for five years (as of 2010 when StaminaLift Bed Movers are used to move or transport beds). |
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Moving Beds Manually is Inefficient
Manual bed moving generally requires two people, usually one orderly and one nurse working together to negotiate turns and obstacles through the busy hospital. With the StaminaLift Bed Mover, providing the patient is stable, a single person can transport the patient safely and effortlessly. Efficiency is improved in several ways:
- Orderlies experience less fatigue and injury
- Workers’ compensation claims and time off is reduced
- Nurses are returned to patient care
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Moving Beds Manually is Dangerous
Manually moving beds is very productive of back, leg and shoulder injuries that typically occur amongst otherwise healthy people working in hospital settings.
Normal hospital beds weigh 140-280kg and with patient can weigh as much as 500kg. In addition to the considerable force required to initiate and sustain movement, beds are difficult to manoeuvre in corridors, in wards and in single occupancy rooms.
An examination of the force necessary to move hospital beds shows that to initiate and to sustain movement, the force required exceeds that considered safe by insurer, Liberty Mutual. |
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Rate and Cost of Bed Moving Injuries
Leg and shoulder injuries are common outcomes of manual bed pushing. In South Australia, claims for such injuries make up 63% of the costs on average and represent 50% of workers’ compensation claims each year. Pushing and pulling exertions directly contribute to 40% of these injuries (WorkCover Corporation South Australia 2005). |
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Doing More with Less Fatigue
With the increase in single rooms and other improvements, hospitals are becoming larger. Simultaneously, greater efficiency and productivity are required.
Many hospital orderlies perform more than 30 bed moves a day over an average distance of 15 km/9.3 miles per day. To avoid disrupting high thru-put bottle-necks such as radiology and theatre/OR, this pace must be maintained consistently throughout each shift. The StaminaLift Bed Mover takes the effort out of bed moving, enabling staff to work more consistently, efficiently and with less fatigue and injury. |
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