Most health workers suffer chronic pain, injury

Working in a healthcare facility can be a backbreaking job, literally. Each year, thousands of health professionals are injured while manual lifting or repositioning their patients. A recent survey released by AFT Healthcare found that the daily physical demands of the job have some healthcare workers thinking of leaving the profession.

“Imagine lifting 200 pounds or more of dead weight by yourself several times a day. That’s a typical day for nurses and radiology technicians or X-ray techs, and it’s becoming unbearable,” says Candice Owley, chair of AFT Healthcare.

Peter D. Hart Research Associates surveyed 900 nurses and X-ray technicians on how lifting, transferring and repositioning patients affected their health. The researchers found that more than half (56 percent) of nurses and X-ray technicians suffer from lifting-related injuries, chronic pain from lifting patients, or both.

Most nurses and health professionals view these injuries as an occupational hazard, says Owley. As a result, injuries often go unreported.

“Now we are saying enough is enough. We know that it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Owley, citing Kaiser healthcare facilities and Veterans Administration hospitals as examples of healthcare systems that have taken steps to reduce injuries by establishing lift teams and purchasing assistive lift equipment.

“If hospitals would buy the necessary equipment, many injuries could be avoided,” says Barbara Kelsey, a former registered nurse from Milwaukee, Wis., who left bedside nursing after a back injury ended her career. Today, Kelsey still works in healthcare but not in direct-care position.

Studies show that using mechanical or assistive equipment significantly reduces injury rates and workers’ compensation costs. AFT Healthcare has called on states to require that hospitals adopt safety programs with appropriate lifting equipment and training; create safe-lift committees that consist of health professionals to select equipment; and develop training, an action overwhelmingly supported by survey respondents.

Vinnie Fedor, an X-ray technician at Bayonne (N.J.) Medical Center, fractured his pelvis while moving a patient from a gurney to an X-ray table several years ago.

“The technology exists to prevent injuries, yet in 2006 we are still dealing with archaic methods of lifting patients,” Fedor says.