Cooley Dickinson Has Nurses’ Backs with New Patient Lifts

NORTHAMPTON — New nursing graduate Laura Vanguilder gives the patient lifts two thumbs up, saying, “the lifts will extend my career as a nurse.”

Registered nurse Maria Etkin says the lifts “will save our backs.” And Naira Francis, RN, says less strain on her back means she “can move the patient more safely.”

Cooley Dickinson Hospital is getting encouraging reviews from its nurses as well as the Massachusetts Nurses Assoc. (MNA) for the Northampton hospital’s commitment to safer care for staff and patients.

Last month, Cooley Dickinson completed the installation of nearly $1 million in patient lift systems and mobile-lift devices. By completing this milestone, CDH joins just 6{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of hospitals nationwide — primarily teaching hospitals — that have implemented a comprehensive safe-patient-handing program.

“By making this investment in safer care, we are preventing back, musculoskeletal, and other injuries associated with lifting and repositioning patients,” says Chief Nursing Officer Leesa-Lee Keith, RN.

According to Derek Strening of Beacon Health Care Products, Cooley Dickinson is the only community hospital in Western Mass. with an extensive safe-patient-handling program. “Most hospitals have some sort of lift system,” said Strening, a representative of the company that installed the lifts. Strening says Cooley Dickinson is the only community hospital that has made such a large investment “by providing full coverage of all patient care areas with overhead lift systems.”

The benefits to patients are many, including reduced bruising and tearing of patients’ skin, reduced fear of falling, gentler lifting, and an overall preservation of patients’ dignity. Staff benefit from fewer injuries and are more efficient throughout their workday.

During a pilot of the patient lifts on several hospital units, there were no injuries among staff that used the lifts. Further, overall data from the safe-patient handling initiative on those units shows a 59{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} decrease in days away from work and a decrease of days of restricted work.

Cooley Dickinson Hospital has been able to purchase the lifts and other improvements to its facilities and equipment because the organization maintains a yearly $5 million reinvestment fund. Having a reinvestment fund allows it to invest in quality and safe care. “We consider an investment in patient lifts an investment in the future of our nurses,” Keith said.

According to the Massachusetts Nurse Newsletter, MNA officials praise Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s purchase of the patient lifts, saying that the “lifting equipment will help protect nurses while they are on the job. Each year, thousands of nurses and health care workers across the country are injured from manually lifting patients.”

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends that manual lifting of patients be minimized in all cases and eliminated when feasible, and that employers should put an effective ergonomics process in place that provides management, involves employees, identifies problems, implements solutions, addresses injury reports, provides training, and evaluates ergonomic efforts.