The Massachusetts Department of Public Health recently presented a report to the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors that revealed high rates of healthcare employee injuries and a necessity for increased implementation safe patient handling policies.
Highlighted below are five highlights from the report.
1. Injuries to healthcare workers contribute a "significant burden" to the healthcare field, with roughly 1,000 cases per year adding up to more than 21,500 lost days.
2. In 2010 alone, Massachusetts healthcare workers suffered patient-handling injuries so severe that they resulted in 59 years of missed days of work.
3. Less than half (44 percent) of the state's hospitals have policies in place to prevent patient handling injuries.
4. More than 70 percent of employers said the time it would take to implement safe patient handling practices is the main barrier to providing equipment to workers to prevent these injuries.
5. The authors of the report recommend implementing programs to improve surveillance, communication among staff and the incorporation of the physical infrastructure needs of safe patient handling in construction projects.
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