It’s long been recognized that nurses face serious trauma in the workplace if they cannot perform their jobs safely. Nurses work with patients every day, and the strain on their bodies and minds is great.
There are many patient-handling tasks that nurses perform. These tasks involve lifting, transferring, and moving patients. Over time, these seemingly small or short-lived tasks can wear down the body and result in injuries that end careers.
Back injuries take place often because of the kinds of tasks nurses complete. They may lift geriatric patients or those who literally cannot lift a finger to help. They may pick up hundreds of pounds of weight when a patient or multiple patients are paralyzed or have fainted in the emergency room. They flip patients over and transfer them in and after surgeries.
In short, nurses do a lot of heavy lifting that can result in strain to the back, neck, shoulders, and other areas of the body. Additionally, these tasks are performed at odd angles, so the nurses may not be able to use good positioning or body mechanics to prevent injuries.
Safe patient-managing techniques can help. For example, hospitals that install lifts in each patient’s room help significantly reduce the strain on the nurses themselves. Since the machinery does the heavy lifting, nurses can focus more on other caretaking aspects of their jobs without the fear of herniating disks or straining their backs or necks.
Nurses are a group of professionals at risk of injury in their industry. They need assistance to keep them safe. When they are hurt, there is a potential for the injury itself to be career-ending, to require surgery or therapy, and to be extremely life-changing.
