Participating in a Safe Patient Handling Committee
Whether it’s due to age, illness or injury, some patients in health care settings may struggle with their mobility. These patients usually require assistance to perform daily tasks, including sitting up, standing and walking. When helping patients with such tasks, it’s important for health care employees like you to utilize proper precautions. That’s where safe patient handling can help.
Safe patient handling pertains to the utilization of assistive equipment to move and reposition patients with minimal physical effort, therefore limiting the likelihood of accidents during these tasks and protecting both yourself and patients from associated injuries. Most states have specific requirements regarding safe patient handling procedures in health care facilities, including the creation of safe patient handling committees.
What Are Safe Patient Handling Committees?
Safe patient handling committees refer to groups of employees who are responsible for carrying out the following activities at health care facilities:
- Conducting hazard assessments for all patient-handling tasks to better understand associated safety exposures
- Selecting equipment (e.g., lifts, belts, recliners, stretchers and transfer boards) to assist with patient-handling tasks and reduce potential hazards
- Determining how much patient-handling equipment is necessary, where it will be stored and who can use it
- Creating workplace documentation (e.g., a program and policy) that outlines safe patient handling procedures to follow
- Enforcing safe patient handling procedures through routine staff training and intervention
- Evaluating patient-handling equipment, documentation and procedures on a set schedule (e.g., annually) and updating them as needed
These committees are typically comprised of employees across various departments (e.g., senior leadership, risk management, housekeeping and HR) at health care facilities. Additionally, most states require half of the participants in these committees to be nonmanagerial employees who provide direct care to patients.
As such, health care employees are usually recruited by existing participants to join safe patient handling committees based on their involvement with patient care and how frequently they engage in patient-handling tasks. These committees should also have a designated chair and co-chair who develop a periodic meeting schedule (e.g., monthly or quarterly) and implement group participation standards.
Safe patient handling committees provide a wide range of benefits. Specifically, they can make all the difference in fostering a strong, collaborative safety culture and establishing effective patient-handling procedures on-site. This can enable health care workers to leverage proper equipment to mobilize patients and avoid potentially dangerous manual tasks.
In turn, employees can better safeguard themselves against common patient-handling injuries—namely, back sprains and strains—and promote high-quality care by minimizing mobility hazards (e.g., falls and pressure ulcers) among patients.
Playing Your Part in a Safe Patient Handling Committee
If you become a participant in your workplace’s safe patient handling committee, be sure to follow these best practices:
- Attend committee meetings and complete follow-up work. Make it a priority to attend and actively participate in committee meetings, paying attention to any new developments regarding safe patient handling procedures. In addition, complete any follow-up tasks assigned at these meetings, such as conducting hazard assessments or reviewing patient-handling documentation. Communicate with your fellow participants, the committee chair and the co-chair if you have any questions or concerns about attending meetings or completing follow-up work.
- Promote safe patient handling procedures. Uphold the procedures outlined in safe patient handling training sessions and workplace documentation, and encourage your co-workers to do the same. In the event that you notice a co-worker engaging in poor patient-handling practices, don’t hesitate to intervene; discuss these concerns with them and walk through the proper precautions.
- Share your ideas for improvement. If you notice any new or ongoing hazards that haven’t been addressed by existing safe patient handling procedures or you develop ways to improve upon these procedures, make sure to share them with the committee.
Conclusion
Participating in your workplace’s safe patient handling committee allows you to play a valuable role in ensuring successful patient-handling measures on-site, keeping related accidents to a minimum and safeguarding both yourself and patients from serious injuries.
Talk to your supervisor for more information on safe patient handling procedures.
This Safety Matters flyer is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as medical or legal advice. © 2023 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved.