Alerting the general public to the problem of safe patient handling might put pressure on hospitals to finally implement—and stick to—already widely dispersed guidelines that aim to protect nurses.
During a pre-surgery visit last week, an orthopedic surgeon picked up my 45-pound, five-year-old daughter off the floor and lifted her onto an exam table so he could take a look at her hips and knees.
"My wife read an article that said doctors and nurses can hurt their backs lifting patients," he commented. His wife didn't think he should do it anymore after reading the article.
"Yeah, I think Chloe might be heavier than the recommendations," I said of my daughter.
"Oh," he said. "You read the article, too?"
No, I didn't read the article, but I write about nursing, I explained, and lifting patients safely is something that nurses talk about a lot.
I did see the NPR.org article last week in my Facebook newsfeed, but have to admit, I didn't click on it. To me, this was old news. But I did note to myself how it sometimes takes a while for news that's big in the nursing world—or any specialized world—to reach the ears of the general public.
A former editor of mine used to say these kinds of articles were for the "spectators," not the "players," to use a sports analogy.
I'm sure this wasn't new information to the surgeon. He was simply making conversation after lifting my daughter (who is heavier than the 35-pound recommended limit for safe lifting). But after talking with him, I did go back and search for the article so I could read it myself. In doing so, I realized that although this information isn't new to nurses, it might be new for the general public, and that's incredibly important.
Turns out, the article was the first in a series about the dangers of nursing (read the second part here). After recounting an anecdote about a nurse who suffered a career-altering back injury while helping to lift a 300-pound patient, the article ticked off alarming musculoskeletal injury statistics among nurses and the recommendations for safe lifting. All familiar territory for those with knowledge of the conversation around safe-patient handling.
Despite these statistics, though, the article went on to say that:
[A]n NPR investigation reveals [that] studies by university and government researchers began to show decades ago that the traditional way hospitals and nursing schools teach staff to move patients—bend your knees and keep your back straight, using "proper body mechanics"—is dangerous.
"The bottom line is, there's no safe way to lift a patient manually," says William Marras, director of The Ohio State University's Spine Research Institute, which has conducted landmark studies on the issue.
I was a bit confused. I didn't think the healthcare community needed an NPR investigation to tell them something they've known for years (check out the "myths and facts" section of this safe patient handling brochure from the ANA).
But that's what I got wrong in my initial reading of these articles. Although this NPR series didn't break any new ground when it comes to what nurses already know, I'm sure it did break new ground for consumers who might have never before considered that the nurses who care for them might get injured in the process.
And alerting the wider public to this problem might put pressure on hospitals to finally implement—and stick to—already widely dispersed guidelines that aim to protect nurses.
Because let's face it: Hospitals know about the risk of nurse injuries already; they're simply ignoring it, or brushing it off, or not consistently following through with needed changes. Apparently it's not enough for millions of nurses and hospital administrators to already know this information. Those of us who follow this topic know that hospitals often simply overlook nursing injuries because investing in making change isn't a big enough priority.
These NPR stories made me realize that it's incredibly important for the mainstream media to report on issues that are already well-known within the healthcare community. The headline on the first article in the series says it all: "Hospitals Fail To Protect Nursing Staff From Becoming Patients."
Perhaps exposing this kind of negligence could be a crucial part of correcting it.
Alexandra Wilson Pecci is an editor for HealthLeaders.
