International Round Table Discussion: Safe Patient Handling & Movement Technology

There has been a tremendous amount of development over the last 30 years in the technology available to healthcare facilities to make it safer for staff to lift, turn, transfer, and mobilize patients/residents. From the early 1990s when safe patient handling programs utilized slide sheets, transfer boards, and manually operated hoyers to reduce musculoskeletal injuries to staff, the evolution of technologies available has been dramatic. Healthcare facilities in the 21st century have state-of-the-art ceiling lifts, powered and even motorized mobile lifts, along with an assortment of new technologies to meet the increasing demands of patient quality initiatives and early mobility programs. This discussion looks at this evolution from 3 leading technology manufacturer’s perspectives from the United States and Scandinavia, and asks what they perceive as the drivers of change, the barriers to these changes, and what safe patient handling technology will look like in the future.

Davis D, Drechsler Jensen A, Kuzma T

Keywords: safe patient handling, equipment, technology, ceiling lifts, air assisted devices, slings