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Comprehensive Understanding of Injuries in Hospitals through Nursing Staff Interviews and Hospital Injury Records

Latha Sampath, Shakti
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1544101088645945

Abstract Details

2018, MS, University of Cincinnati, Medicine: Occupational Safety and Ergonomics.
Introduction: Hospital nurses continue to be at a high risk for injuries in their workplace. Safe Patient Handling (SPH) policies and procedures (P&P) on patient handling have been added to hospitals as an administrative measure, but their effect on injury and cost reduction have yet to be measured. Method: Data was collected from a series of interviews with 1328 hospital nurses across 49 hospitals. The study participants were asked about their knowledge of SPH Policies and Procedures, the top 3 most difficult tasks in regards to patient handling, usage rates for patient handling devices, and whether they had pain within the last 12 months. Additional information about injury rates, incurred costs, lost and restricted workdays, and top 4 highest injury patient handling tasks were obtained from OSHA 300 logs and insurance reports. Information regarding number of hospital beds in the facility, injuries by job titles and departments were obtained from the hospital administration. Results: Hospital size impacted the total incurred cost of injuries, number of injuries, and number of lost/restricted workdays. Smaller hospitals experienced nearly the same amount of lost workdays per injury as larger hospitals. The average patient handling device usage rate was about 17%, with only four hospitals reporting over 50% usage. Approximately 60% of interviewed staff have previously been in pain in the last 12 months; however, only 14.4% of staff have reported to management. Nearly half of the hospitals surveyed have existing SPH policies and procedures, yet only 2% of staff had any knowledge of these policies and procedures. Repositioning of patients in bed resulted in the most injuries to nurses. Lateral transfers of patients were the third highest injury task, but were not in the top 3 perceived difficult tasks by nurses. Those holding the job title of “nurse” were the most often injured in hospitals, and medical/surgical departments saw the most injuries. Conclusions: The study utilized two unique data sets—nurse interviews and hospital injury records to better understand the injuries suffered by hospital personnel. There were five major findings from the study: 1) repositioning of the patient was by far the riskiest task performed, 2) nurses suffer the most injuries in hospitals, 3) costs of a reported injury is about $22,100 and 22 lost or restricted days and was independent of hospital size, 4) medical/surgical units have the most injuries, and 5) few nurses (around 2%) actually had any knowledge of the safe patient handling Policy and Procedures in their facility. This means that very few programs are implemented sufficiently enough to have any real impact on the injuries to the health professionals. As a result, facilities continue to purchase SPH devices without full understanding of the healthcare workers of the importance to use them.
Kermit Davis, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Susan Kotowski, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
33 p.
Occupational Safety
nurses; patient handling; repositioning; injury costs; policy and procedures

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Latha Sampath, S. (2018). Comprehensive Understanding of Injuries in Hospitals through Nursing Staff Interviews and Hospital Injury Records [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1544101088645945

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Latha Sampath, Shakti. Comprehensive Understanding of Injuries in Hospitals through Nursing Staff Interviews and Hospital Injury Records. 2018. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1544101088645945.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Latha Sampath, Shakti. "Comprehensive Understanding of Injuries in Hospitals through Nursing Staff Interviews and Hospital Injury Records." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1544101088645945

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1544101088645945
194
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.