• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Protect staff with a quality ergonomic program

Ambulatory Safety Monitor, June 30, 2005

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Ambulatory Safety Monitor!

Nursing positions show up twice in the Bureau of Labor Statistics list of most work-related musculosketetal disorders (MSD) leading to days off work. Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants ranked at the top with 337.1 during 2003, and registered nurses saw 100.5 injuries. In comparison, laborers and material movers (330.9) and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (205.8) fell between the nursing job titles on the list.

These alarming statistics raise concern in all healthcare settings. The AAAHC recognizes the importance of a quality ergonomics program in all of its accredited organizations. Standard 19.C.1 requires you to maintain a program to assess and reduce risk associated with physical hazards surrounding ergonomic exposures.

Use the following tips from AAAHC surveyor Dawn Q. McLane-Kinzie, RN, MSA, CASC, CNOR, vice president of operations for Aspen Healthcare in Boulder, CO, in your facility to meet compliance and keep your staff safe:

1. Put an ergonomics policy in place. Because it's required by the AAAHC, you must create a policy assessing and reducing risk of ergonomics exposures. This policy also helps you develop a program for the safety of your workers. As a surveyor, McLane-Kinzie looks to see that centers include the following in their policies:

• Annual inservices on the ergonomics plan

• Safe-lifting courses

• Proper back care education

If surveyors don't find a policy or discover the existing one misses elements, they might give your facility a consultative comment to help you improve.

2. Teach your program and policy often. Educate new employees about your ergonomics program during orientation and annually thereafter. The annual seminars should last no longer than 30 minutes so employees don't feel that attending it is a chore. "The frequency of your training serves as a reminder to staff to practice caution and be aware of risks," McLane-Kinzie says. Consider lumping mini-mandatory seminars into a type of safety week or with another special effort. See sample agendas and forms below.

3. Give staff quality training. Surgery centers should hire physical therapists to train staff about ergonomic techniques. These therapists don't charge a lot and are qualified to speak about the issue, McLane-Kinzie says. The expert you bring in should talk to staff about the following topics:

• Proper lifting techniques, such as pushing instead of pulling and how to handle fainting patients when you need to fall with them.

• Using equipment suitable for your body, such as chairs and computers at appropriate heights. "Buying the right equipment and making sure it fits employees is cheaper than paying for carpal tunnel syndrome in those patients," McLane-Kinzie says.

• Practicing stretching exercises to keep the body limber and relaxed.

4. Make time for staff concerns. McLane-Kinzie says in all the centers she's worked, staff tend to report more concerns following ergonomics seminars. Because the workshops bring these safety issues to light, she suspects employees become more enlightened to potential dangers. Because workshops put staff in this frame of mind, she suggests maintaining an open-door policy welcoming your team to talk about concerns. And urge them to report to a manager any instance of injury as soon as it happens. Log all complaints and track your data to find trends and areas for improvement.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Ambulatory Safety Monitor!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive