Faced with the challenge of sustaining their safe patient handling program - and building even more enthusiasm among caregivers - committee members at St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital devised an "Olympic Class" competition among caregiver staff. The competition involved activities such as Jeopardy type questions to earn drawing tickets; participation in an "event" (demo of equipment); or simply USE OF the lifting equipment on a unit and placement of an entry in the "Get Caught!" box. Click here to see a variety of the participants' contributions, or if you'd like to communicate with the hospital directly, contact Karen Canfield (kjcanfie@stvincent.org) or phone (317) 338-6576.

for the
9th Annual Safe Patient Handling and Movement Conference
to be held at the
Buena Vista Palace Hotel and Spa, Lake Buena Vista, FL

Pre-Conference Programs-March 29, 2009
Post Conference Programs-April 3, 2009
Program Director Audrey Nelson, PhD, RN, FAAN

For complete information and registration:
http://www.cme.hsc.usf.edu/sphm/

This conference is sponsored by: VISN 8: VA Sunshine Healthcare Network; VISN 8 Patient Safety Center of Inquiry; James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital; University of South Florida (USF Health); American Nurses Association; American Physical Therapy Association; National Association of Bariatric Nurses; National Back Exchange; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Course Description: This conference will provide participants with cutting edge research, best practices, and lessons learned in safe patient handling. The conference includes diverse learning opportunities, including plenary sessions, concurrent sessions, workshops, "hands on" practice sessions, poster sessions, and a large exhibit hall with new and emerging technologies. Innovations from around the world will be presented, addressing such topics as safety legislation, practice tips, technology solutions, effective training techniques, successful organizational strategies, and building a business case for safe patient handling programs. Detailed conference materials will include cognitive aids and tools to facilitate implementation of best practices.

Target Audience: This conference is designed to meet the needs of direct health care providers, managers, administrators, risk managers, educators, industrial hygienists/safety professionals, and researchers of any discipline who are interested in advancing safety for patients and caregivers. To meet the needs of a diverse audience, focused tracks have been established for:

1. Direct Patient Care Providers and Unit-Based Peer Leaders
2. Facility Champions/ Program Implementation
3. Research/Advanced
4. Specialty Focus Areas
5. Therapists
6. Technologies & Practical Techniques

Conference Objective: Upon the completion of this program, the participant should be able to:

1. Identify three best practices for patient care ergonomics.
2. Assess technological solutions for safe patient handling and movement.
3. Describe three ergonomic hazards common in patient care settings.
4. Use effective strategies to educate direct care providers, students, and administrators about patient care ergonomics.
5. Formulate strategies for reducing risk to caregivers at your facility.
6. Assess the cost/benefit of various interventions to reduce the risk for musculoskeletal injuries in patient care providers.

Poster Submission: Submitted poster abstracts should follow closely with the purpose of the conference. Abstracts should be no more than 250 words in length stating the research study or program description. All abstracts must be received on or before December 19, 2008. Authors will be notified of acceptance no later than January 23, 2009. See web site for details on abstract submission. For more information contact Mary Matz at 813-558-3928 or Mary.Matz@va.gov.

Exhibits: For information regarding exhibit opportunities, contact Valerie Kelleher at 813-558-3948 or Valerie.Kelleher@va.gov

The Indian Health Service publishes a newsletter, "The HIS Primary Care Provider," for health professionals working with American Indians and Alaska Natives. The Sept., 2008 issue featured an article you may find interesting entitled, "Coming to a Hospital Near You: Safe Patient Handling and Movement." To review the entire article click here.

Bariatric patients are weighing heavily on the NSW health system. The number of obese admissions has sky-rocketed in the past eight years. At Manning Base Hospital there were 37 obese patients admitted in 2001, compared to this year where the hospital has already admitted 265 obese patients. That's a seven-fold increase in seven years. Read more here.

One of the Lift Doctor questions in the October issue of Safe Lifting News focused on "push-pull forces." Two thoughtful reader offered informative clarifications, as follow.

Candee Van Iderstine, P.T., I.S.S., of Bowie Physical Medicine Services, stated:

Actually a comment, not a question. Re: the push pull restrictions: There are federal standards published by the US Dept of Labor. The book is called Selected Characteristics of Occupations Defined in the Revised Dictionary of Occupational Titles. This defines (in appendix c-1) that nurses (job079.374-014=LPN, job075.364-010 staff nurse... and 25 other nursing job classifications) that the heaviest classification is "medium" which is defined in terms of forces required to lift, carry, push and pull. Medium is 20-50# occasionally, (up to 1/3 of the day) 10-25 frequently (up to 2/3 of the day) and 0-10 (more than 2/3 of the day). A strain gauge is used to determine the force to push or pull (no wheels vs. wheels will make a huge difference in the load being pushed or pulled. Another point... If this employer does not require all employees of that nurse's classification to demonstrate the ability to push/pull 100#, they cannot require her to do this or it in violation of ADA as well as potentially considered discriminatory. If 100# is their standard, is that the weight of an empty bed or the actual force to move the bed? I think it is highly unlikely that her M.D. will have a strain gauge or would be willing to declare a safe level given whatever her pathology is."

Phil Rogerson, University of Rochester Medical Center, stated:

"This is a suggestion based on the featured question concerning pushing and pulling. A good set of guidelines can be found in the work of Stover Snook and Vincent Ciriello who developed tables for analysis of such tasks. They were adopted by Liberty Mutual and can be found on the web."

Our sincere thanks to each of these well-informed readers...