Sharing the Lessons: The 10-Year Journey of a Safe Patient Movement Program

In 2005, an 850-bed acute care, level-one trauma center, academic Magnet® hospital in southeastern Pennsylvania developed and implemented a safe patient movement (SPM) program to mitigate occupationally acquired injuries to bedside clinicians. The initial directive included the provision of highly accessible and appropriate patient handling equipment in patient care areas identified as high-risk for occupational-related manual patient handling injuries. A 6-month equipment pilot outcome demonstrated a 38% reduction in employee injuries caused by manual patient handling tasks. Ongoing program growth included the expansion of highly accessible lift technology, the establishment of a SPM committee, the adoption of a dedicated program educator, and the ongoing enculturation of a SPM philosophy into employee and patient safety endeavors. The evolution from the initial execution of the program has demonstrated a network-wide ongoing and sustained downward reduction in manual patient handling injuries throughout the first 10 years of the program’s existence.

Walker L, Docherty T, Hougendobler D, Guanowsky C, Rosenthal M

Keywords: safe patient handling, OSHA, occupational safety, equipment, technology, program development