Challenging the Myth that it Takes Too Long to Use Safe Patient Handling and Mobility Technology: A Task Time Investigation

The perception of “it takes too long” is a common barrier to adopting safer work practices using safe patient handling technology. This investigation looks at different levels of learners’ time to complete routine safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM) tasks with an overhead lift and slings. Timed trials of beginner, intermediate, and regular users of SPHM technology were conducted for patient care tasks using a ceiling lift and various slings. Time for SPHM task completion ranged from shortest of 42 seconds to the longest duration of 3:41 min/s. Time for all tasks improved with the subject’s level of experience. The perception of lengthy completion times using SPHM technology was not supported. This investigation showed that regular use of SPHM technology positively influenced completion times, with more experienced users being faster than beginner users. Awareness of objective times to complete tasks could help dispel myths of time inefficiency with SPHM technology use.

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Keywords: safe patient handling, equipment use, time, ceiling lifts