Considering Hospital Transporters in a Safe Patient Handling Program

The majority of articles on safe patient handling and movement (SPHM) have cited injuries to nurses and nursing assistants when identifying the risk of musculoskeletal injury when lifting, transferring, mobilizing, and repositioning patients. Very little attention, however, has been paid to hospital transporters who are frequently required to manually transfer patients onto and off a wheelchair or gurney, experiencing the same level of risk as nursing and therapy staff. This article describes the risks associated with transporting patients within a healthcare facility by this group of staff, identifies some of the technologies and other solutions to reduce these risks, and examines the value transporters bring to the implementation of a successful safe patient handling program.

Monaghan HM

Keywords: transporters, musculoskeletal injury, safe patient handling