Nursing: Lifting, Transferring and Positioning of Patients
ABSTRACT
Lifting, transferring and positioning of patients is frequently undertaken by
nurses on each working day. This is necessary for patient comfort, medical
reasons and completion of self care needs. Lifting can be done in numerous ways.
As well as the nurse physically lifting or moving patients, a number of devices
are also available to assist in the transfer of patients. These range from
straps that are attached to or placed under the patients, to mechanical hoists
and lifters. Any assistance the nurse has is beneficial for both the patient
and the health care worker, as patient's weights are generally heavier than the
nurses physical capabilities. This, combined with incorrect lifting techniques,
can result in muscle strain, or more seriously, spinal injury for the nurse, and
discomfort, muscle strain or further injury for the patient.
INTRODUCTION
When lifting, transferring or positioning patients, the most important
consideration is safety. Any of these procedures need to be undertaken with it
in mind. This safety is inclusive of both the patient and the health care
worker. Communication is an important part of the lifting process as the nurse
should elicit information from the client to find out how and when they prefer
to be moved. This allows the patient to be involved in the decision making
process and be fully aware of what is occurring. By communicating with the
client, the nurse is also aware of whether or not the patient is experiencing
any discomfort during or after the lift.
The actions of lifting, transferring or positioning need to be completed for
numerous reasons, including relief of pressure points. Due to the patient being
in one position continuously, they are prone to the development of pressure
areas. In terms of patient needs, being in the same position constantly is
physically uncomfortable. However, mentally, a change in the immediate
surroundings is also beneficial for the patient. It is also necessary for the
patient to be moved for completion of their self care needs. This includes
their hygiene needs, which include, bathing or showering, elimination, hair,
oral and nail care.
METHOD
When lifting, transferring or positioning patients manually, safety is the most
important factor. This safety is for the nurse thems...
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... of using the lifters there may not be as much
manual lifting necessary.
Education about manual handling is also vital to ensure correct lifting
techniques are used. Constant re-evaluation of the staff's abilities and
methods would ensure safety for both parties involved. This would make staff
aware that the least amount of strain placed on the muscles and joints as
possible is beneficial to them.
The re-evaluation is also important in the fact that it allows the health care
worker to be constantly up to date on any new procedures which may be developed.
REFERENCES
Kozier, B., Erb, G., Blais, K., Wilkinson, J.M. 1995, {italics on} Fundamentals
of Nursing {italics off}, 5th Edition, Addison Wesley Publishing Company Inc.,
United States of America.
Love, C. 1995, 'Managing manual handling in clinical situations', {italics on}
Nursing Times {italics off}, vol. 91, no. 26, pp. 38-39.
Scott, A. 1995, 'Improving patient moving and handling skills', {italics on}
Professional Nurse {italics off}, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 105-110.
Seymour, J. 1995, 'Handling Aids - Lifting and moving patients', {italics on}
Nursing Times {italics off}, vol. 91, no. 27, pp. 48-50.
...y understand of why the change is needed. For example he can provide the employees with the pros and cons of the current process and how the new implemented changes will improve the organization.
Keep your working knowledge current. Correct evaluation. Technology changes rapidly and it’s important to understand industry standards, methodologies, and best
...in this document and others that are on the market they will be able to keep up to date no matter their location, be accurate in their assessment of employee criteria and compensation and become leaders within their field.
The Role of the Registered Nurse in relation to delegation. One of the vital skills required by the Registered Nurse is the skill to assign tasks to subordinates (Saccomanos and Pinto-Zipp 2011). When tasks are delegated to subordinates, the RN remains accountable (Nursing and Midwifery Council 2008). On the other hand, an individual who has been given a task also bears responsibility for the task and is answerable to the RN.
The National Council of State Boards in Nursing defines delegation as “transferring to a competent individual the authority to perform a selected nursing task in a selected situation” (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Resources section, 4). When delegating, the registered nurse (RN) assigns nursing tasks to unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) while still remaining accountable for the patient and the task that was assigned. Delegating is a management strategy that is used to provide more efficient care to patients. Authorizing other individuals to take on nursing responsibilities allows the nurse to complete other tasks that need tended to. However, delegation is done at the nurses’ discretion and is a personal choice. Nurses must make careful decisions regarding delegation, taking into account the skill and training of the UAP, the difficulty and risk of the task, and the patient’s condition. The expected outcomes, a time frame for completion, and any limitations should be explained to the UAP at the time that the task was delegated.
We will focus not merely on identifying and mitigating risk in all of our activities, but on assure quality through communication, training, and development, everyone will have the competence to perform their tasks efficiently.
INTRODUCTION There are many things that affect a student’s enrolment as a nurse the student must be competent in the many registration standards that the Nursing Midwifery Board of Australia have set. The stigmas attached to students with Impairments and or Criminal histories and the ineligibility to register. Nursing is defined by the International Council of Nursing (2014) as collaborative care of individual’s any age health or ill of all communities, groups, in all situations. Health promotion, illness prevention and the care of unwell, disabled and dying people are included in the nursing practice. Encouraging a safe environment, research, contributing to shape health policies and health systems management, and education are also key nursing
In order to safely deliver competent care, a nurse must be armed with all of the pertinent information about a patient. Breakdowns in communication have been known to cause adverse and sentinel events, making it extremely important for nurses to pass on relevant information at shift change in a timely manner. Although no known best practice currently exists for communication during patient handovers, various strategies have been implemented and studied. One strategy to attempt to improve the quality and delivery of end of shift report in a timely manner includes the employment of a standardized template to complement verbal patient handovers. In an experimental study by Wilson (2007), she implied that the initiation of a standardized
“A novice delegator will delegate no tasks due to lack of confidence or will delegate with minimal follow-up due to lack of knowledge. The expert nurse will appropriately delegate according to the team members’ abilities and will have appropriate follow-up especially when sensing a change in the patient’s status.”(Heuristic. (n.d), 2007, p 111) There is currently a rise in the role of unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) and a decrease in the use of licensed practical nurses (LPN) in health care due to the ever changing restructuring of reimbursement
When it comes to switching shifts, nurses usually give a quick report on the patient, so the oncoming nurse knows what is going on with the patients. Sometimes nurses are rushing through the report, skipping through vital information, which can cause harm in our patients. We must have a standard hand off report each nurse must follow to provide patient safety and satisfaction.
Notwithstanding, there is an increasing demand for ways of improving handover practices (AHRQ, 2009) with the aim of reducing the risk of miscommunication, misinterpretation and the omission of critical patient information. However, there is a lack of evidence on the most effective process for conducting a structured handover process (Robertson et al., 2014) and evidence to support decisions on the effectiveness of nursing handover styles in an inter or intra ward/unit transfer of patient information (Smeulers et al., 2014). Furthermore, there is a lack of evidence to support the use of educational interventions to improve handovers such as formal training in handover practices in the training institution (Gordon and Findley, 2011).
Delegation is defined as entrusting a task to another individual while remaining accountable for the result (Mullen, 2014). According to the principles of delegation, an RN may delegate certain areas of care as long as they do not delegate the nursing process itself (Kelly, 2012). In addition, the RN needs to ensure (prior to delegation) that the individual that the task has been delegated to has the proper certification/training to perform the delegated task (Kelly, 2012). Based on the five rights of delegation (the right task, the right circumstance, the right person, the right direction and communication and the right supervision and evaluation), I would delegate the bathing, toileting, bed making, ambulation, transport, positioning, feeding
...mplications that allow for opportunities of change. One of the presumptions is for training and staffing (Shi & Singh, 2012). With the utilization of health care improvements, the staff will need additional instructions on the performance of equipment and how to efficiently achieve the desired results. Managers or supervisors recognize the need for supplemental staffing and training to optimize patient satisfaction and quality of care. The health care administrator must also focus on changes in insurance policies and rules governing the provision of medical assistance (Shi & Singh, 2012).
Even with using the right way of lifting patients there is still a possibility of the nurses getting injured. “Lifting and moving patients manually still places pressure to the nurses spine, regardless the technique you use” (white). Many nurses are scared since the population is growing more and more each day which then means that there's going to be a lot more people to take care of in the hospitals and that puts many nurses in fear because if they are working in a hospital that does not believe in using lifting equipment then they are just going to end up hurting themselves very severely and might not be able to work as a nurse because of how bad they injure themselves. Patient handling for nurses is something that they do daily when they
Will facilitate the employees to get a better understanding of the working of the company.