Evaluation of a Safe Patient Handling Program

Purpose : The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing a comprehensive Safe Patient Handling (SPH) Program system wide in a large healthcare organization relative to injury severity and organizational cost. Background : Extensive review of the literature reveals clear evidence that healthcare workers who participate in patient handling activities continue to be at a very high risk for occupational musculoskeletal injuries. Workers employed up to one year, and those employed greater than ten years within the institution studied were noted to have higher rates of injures that were more severe and more costly to the organization. Methods : Implementation of a comprehensive SPH program was implemented in 2010 and all direct patient caregivers were trained. The sample consisted of new hires (n=89) and long term hires (n=144) identified via aggregate data from data bases owned by the institution. Data were analyzed on the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program. Mean differences in the severity of injury and cost of injury between pre and post-training periods were analyzed via independent samples t-tests. Chi-square was used to identify whether there was a significant difference in the frequency of injuries between the pre and post-training periods. Results : Results indicated that the average injury severity during the pre-test period was significantly higher compared to post-test. No significant differences were found related to cost or frequency of injury between pre and post-test. Discussion : Issues related to the practical significance of the results and challenges due to the small sample size are discussed