Safe Patient Handling Stories - Midwestern Region
Note: Stories submitted by RNs through this Website and published here have been edited for clarity and brevity.
I started as a RN weighing in at 105 pounds. I worked night shift and one of my patients weighed 430 pounds. She needed to use the bathroom and was trying to get up herself, with electrodes stuck all over her and tethered to an EKG monitor. It was then I realized that if my fellow five nurses and techs had not been rapid in responding to my cry for help, I would have been in big trouble and my patient would have probably fallen. Luckily, the six of us were able to gently ease her to the ground, but then all of us strained to help her back to bed.
Advanced practice registered nurse in primary care, Michigan
***
I became a rehab nurse out of nursing school 26 years ago and we did not have the lift equipment that is available today. We were taught body mechanics and correct manner of transfers, but due to the constant lift/moving assistance most patients in rehab need, it added up to constant back pain and finally removed me from the bedside. My current employer has a “no-lift” policy and the equipment to support that policy. I wish all hospitals were as lucky to have the equipment and leadership to support “Not to Lift!”
Rehabilitation nurse, Illinois
***
If we don't start taking care of our own, we will be in no better shape than our patients in the future. Nursing has done so much at the sacrifice of our minds, body and spirit and it is time to pay it back. I left bedside because I knew my body would not hold out walking long concrete halls and manually lifting patients for 12 hours for my whole career.
BSN, Indiana