Safe Patient Handling

Toolkit Materials

• Beyond Getting Started: A Resource Guide for Implementing a Safe Patient Handling Program in the Acute Care Setting

  A resource guide addressing patient handling with the goal of providing necessary tools for occupational health professionals to implement a safe patient handling program.

• Safe Patient Handling: Busting the Myths

  Facts about moving patients, the use of mechanical equipment and creating a change of culture.

• Safe Patient Handling: A Self-Assessment

  This self-assessment tool examines the number and nature of patient handling injuries occurring in your organization.

• Safe Patient Handling Program Checklist

  Use this checklist to compare your current policies and practices against best practices in safe patient handling.

• Need a Lift? Just Ask Flyer

  Post this flyer in patient rooms to remind them to call if they need to be moved or lifted.

• Safe Patient Handling Programs: Effectiveness and Cost Savings

  Safe patient handling programs pay for themselves. This resource provides information on the effectiveness and cost savings of safe patient handling programs.

• Safe Patient Handling Programs: Learn from the Leaders

  The document provides information from leading hospitals that have implemented and benefitted from safety patient handling programs.

• Veterans Health Administration: A Model Safe Patient Handling and Movement Program

  A PowerPoint presentation presenting a sample model for a safe patient handling and movement program.

• Massachusetts Nurses Association: Safe Patient Handling Toolkit

  A comprehensive guide to safe patient handling from the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The guide addresses many issues related to safe patient handling such as consequences of inappropriate lifting techniques, benefits of safe patient handling programs, types of patient movement and lifts and tips to avoid back injuries.

• Lifting and Material Handling

  Injuries in the workplace are frequently caused by lifting heavy items. This document provides tips on the correct way to handle the lifting of heavy items.

• OSHA & Worker Safety: Handling with Care – Practicing Safe Patient Handling

  These tips present safe patient handling practice for healthcare workers. It supplies algorithms for safety in transfers common to healthcare workers daily.

• AORN Guidance Statement: Safe Patient Handling and Movement in the Perioperative Setting

  This guide provides resources for safe patient handling and movement in surgical areas. It was developed by identifying high-risk tasks performed in the perioperative area and developing evidence-based solutions to reduce the risk of injury.

• Functional Activity and Mobility: Documentation for Hospitalized Adults from Johns Hopkins

  Tools for improving patient outcomes in activity and mobility. It addresses incorporating safe patient handling into care plans and includes case studies on the use of an activity scale to determine the patient’s level movement assistance.

• Duke Moves: The Bedside Mobility Assessment Tool

  This bedside mobility assessment tool can be utilized to test a patient’s ability to move safely.

• Duke Moves: BMAT-Adult Bedside Mobility Assessment Tool

  Nurses can use this tool to assess patient mobility at the bedside. It facilitates decision making as to the proper lifting technique required for the patient.