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Improve patient safety with EPD
CategoriesPatient Handling

Epidural Chair Solves Spinal Block Positioning for OR

by sphmedicaladmin

Are you looking for a way to keep your patients and hospital’s medical staff safe? Do you want to lower the risk of injuries while helping patients get better faster? The epidural positioning chair may be the answer. Known as the Epidural Chair or the Epidural positioning device (EPD), the EPD is being used in hospitals and surgical practices to enhance patient safety. The device provides secure and comfortable, stable support for patients undergoing epidurals, spinal blocks, or lumbar punctures.

Many departments use EPDs for safe patient handling and to enhance worker safety in clinics, hospitals, and pre-op areas. The imaging and surgery department uses EPDs for comfort, to hold patients in positions for various procedures to reduce the risk of injury to technicians.

Epidural Chair: What is it?

People often mistake it for a chair, but it is actually the bed or table on which the patient is seated. EPD supports the arms, head, chest, and feet while a patient is seated. The device is portable and stable, allowing it to be used at the bedside as you prepare patients for spinal and epidural blocks. Various clinical settings, inside and outside of hospitals, can benefit from EPD. Epidurals are given almost every hour in labor and delivery rooms, and spinal blocks are now being administered even more often as the number of total joint replacements increases.

Epidural Positioner: Ease of use and maintenance

The Epidural Positioning Chair provides a better solution for nurses, medical staff, and health care facilities. Many hospitals consider positioning patients as the standard of care that minimizes the risk of falls, sprains, and injuries. The EPD can be used for epidurals, spinal blocks, thoracentesis, and other pain management procedures.

With EDP, patients can receive spinal blocks or other epidural therapies in a more private, dignified way. This is also safer for caregivers. The armrests adjust in six positions, and the headrest can change 180 degrees. The device can easily fit operating rooms, birthing rooms, clinics, labor and delivery rooms, and imaging departments. Disposable covers make it easy to disinfect and clean the EPD’s face rest.

EPD: The Benefits

During, after, and before the COVID-19 epidemic, thoracentesis became routine. Epidural positioning devices make the process simpler and more predictable. According to an expert, thoracentesis usually involves the patient leaning forward while their arms rest on a bedside table. Patients who cannot sit will lie on their side for safety.

Ultrasound techs also need a safe working environment. Syncope caused by vasovagal responses during thoracentesis can be treated safely with the EPD. Studies show many hospitals and medical centers use the EPD for thoracentesis procedures. It is also very popular with technicians and patients alike. In studies of pregnant women who received epidurals, women found that positioning devices made them feel more comfortable.

Compared to the patient satisfaction before using the devices, patient satisfaction increased significantly. Other benefits include:

  • Maintains correct thoracic, cervical, and lumbar flexion to maintain stable alignment.
  • Provides a more private and less intrusive position for the patients
  • Help to prevent injuries to medical and anesthesia staff.
  • Wheeled for easy mobility
  • Easily fits any patient
  • Increases patient satisfaction

Eliminate Manual Handling with The Epidural Chair

Nurses and caregivers manually position patients for epidural procedures in preoperative settings, operating rooms, and the hospital at large. During most procedures, caregivers must hold a stool, table, and patient steadily with their entire bodies. This prevents the patient from moving, resulting in an injury. When the medical assistant is assisting the patient in holding a flexed spinal position, they are potentially putting themselves in a risky position.

Handling patients manually puts medical staff at risk for musculoskeletal injuries. As part of perioperative procedures, staff members position patients as needed for spinal and epidural blocks, respectively, in Pre-Op, OR, and other rooms as required. Most patients sit at their bedsides and place their feet on a portable stool on wheels by the bedside. To create the “mad cat” flexed spine position, the nurse brings a non-locking bedside table to the patient and places pillows as needed on it. Sometimes, the patient is simply leaning forward while their arms are wrapped around a stack of pillows. By holding the foot stool in place, the nurse keeps the patient’s upper body stationary while holding the foot stool in place with the knees or thighs. The nurse or nurse assistant must often support some of the patient’s body weight during needle insertion.

Further complicating the situation, patients are often in pain, nervous, and unpredictable, putting the staff at risk. Several hospitals have concluded that prolonged holds and counterpressure tasks are high risk. They have redesigned epidural and spinal block placement processes to eliminate manual patient handling based on their predictable daily routine.

Besides reducing risk to the medical staff and caregivers, the Epidural Positioning Device creates a comfortable and safe needle placement position, ensuring increased patient comfort. Experts have shown that “normal” patients suffer injuries when they are handled manually. The constant turning, lifting, pulling, pushing, and transferring has the cumulative effect of causing small tears in the joints and discs, leading to injury.Reduce Risk of Injury in OR with EPD

Safeguarding the medical staff

Strain, back injuries, and other musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a severe concern for healthcare workers. The Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) estimates that around 50 percent of all non-life-threatening injuries sustained by nurses are MSDs, with approximately 25 percent of these injuries involving the back.

The EPD typically addresses these concerns in preoperative rooms, which are prone to injuries. Studies show many prestigious hospitals use the device, including Mayo Clinic, VA Medical Center, Duke University Hospital, and Kaiser Hospitals. This device is an invaluable asset to the imaging team, perioperative, and Labor and Delivery (L&D), a win-win for everyone.

With the EPD, you can immediately and effectively increase patient and staff safety. If you would like more information or to request a quote, contact SPH Medical. The primary focus of SPH Medical is the safety of nurses and caregivers. The national organization offers a wide selection of safe patient handling products to healthcare facilities and hospitals nationwide, such as patient lifting solutions, air assisted transfer and positioning systems, patient slings, Nitrile Exam Gloves, N95 masks, and disinfection products.

The Epidural Positioning Devices Improves Safety
CategoriesPatient Handling

Epidural Pain Relief and Positioning

by sphmedicaladmin

Epidural Pain Relief and patient positioning occurs in both the hospital and outpatient settings. Epidurals are regional pain analgesics commonly administered before intense pain during labor, surgical procedures, or for chronic pain in the back and neck. Epidural anesthesia blocks pain in an area of the body. Epidurals provide labor pain relief rather than anesthesia, which is total lack of feeling. Proper patient positioning is important to ensure the correct location for the epidural placement but ensuring healthcare worker safety is equally important.

Epidural steroid injections (ESIs) are a treatment for lower back pain and leg pain. For decades, ESIs have been considered a central component of nonsurgical approaches to sciatica and lower back pain. Epidurals and epidural steroid injections involve injecting a local anesthetic (and a steroid medication in the case of ESIs) directly into the epidural space that surrounds the spinal cord and nerve roots.

Today, much emphasis is placed on the positioning of the patient for receiving epidural pain relief for reasons of safety, for both the patient and the medical staff. Being able to quickly and comfortably administer an epidural decreases risks to all involved. To aid in this, the epidural positioning chair (EPD), commonly known as the epidural positioning device (EPD), or epidural chair, has become a valuable piece of equipment. The EPC is used in labor and delivery departments and in surgical areas to position the patient properly for the epidural procedure. The mobile positioning chair is lightweight, easy to move, and locks into place to allow for easier and safer administration of epidural pain relief.

Epidural Pain Relief, Positioning a Patient

Making sure a patient is in the right position can sometimes prove difficult. For instance, a patient’s range of motion may be limited because of pregnancy or injury. A patient’s level of distraction because of pain may also impede proper positioning administration of the epidural.

Positioning a patient for an epidural is an important consideration, as risks exist for the patient and for the medical staff administering the medicine. Throughout history, different positions have been used, and more recently, specific positions are used for specific bodily locations of epidural administration.

The various positions used usually depend on the condition of the patient. Pregnant women, for instance, are often put into a Sims position (left lateral decubitus, left leg straight, right leg bent), but it may be done with the patient sitting with their back arched, often described as an “angry cat” or “boiled shrimp” position. An epidural chair makes properly positioning patients very simple.

Epidural Pain Relief Injection and Risks to the Patient

For the patient, risks include low blood pressure in 10-20% of patients. There is a 1% risk of intravascular injection, puncture in spinal cord, and failure to block. There is less than 1% risk of infection, headache, bleeding, and allergic reaction. Patients are monitored closely during and after epidural placement, especially delivering. As mentioned, administering an epidural safely and comfortably is of utmost importance in reducing risk, and the EPD has come to play a significant role in this.

Healthcare Worker Safety

Providing epidural pain relief has improved healthcare worker safety as well. Often, a professional (or multiple professionals) are holding a patient in place manually. Pain during labor or from injury may cause a patient to unexpectedly move while receiving an epidural. Or, having an adverse reaction to the epidural may cause the patient to move. Any patient motion requires staff reaction and counter, creating musculoskeletal strain for the professional. The pushing, pulling, tugging, lifting and catching required of the healthcare worker can lead to strain injury instantaneously or over time. Very often, healthcare workers use nearby non-medical equipment like stools chairs and tables when trying to make the patient ready and as comfortable as possible for the injection. These stools, tables, and chairs often have rollers, which then require the healthcare worker to counter any movement with adverse pressure or motion. The necessity of this practice, and the risk of injury that comes with it, while being in common practical use all over the world, has been all but eliminated with the EPD or Epidural Chair. Using the EPD eliminates the physical strain on the professional, thereby eliminating much of the risk to healthcare workers associated with administration of epidurals.

Having the patient in the correct position with an epidural positioning device makes quick and safe epidural administration possible with fewer staff members. By reducing manual patient handling the EPD is a simple yet highly effective device that reduces risks for both patients and healthcare staff.

Epidural Chair improves Staff Safety
CategoriesPatient Handling

Epidural Pain Relief and the EPD

by sphmedicaladmin

Epidural anesthesia blocks pain sensation in a given region of the body and provides analgesia. The EPD improves safety for both staff and patients and increases and comfort for patients. An Epidural blocks impulses from lower spinal segments leading to reduced pain sensation in the lower part of the body. Most epidural pain relief medications are local anesthetics and are administered in combination with opioids like fentanyl.

How Epidural Pain Relief Works?

Local anesthetics are directed into the epidural space. EPD is mainly used during childbirth, management of chronic sciatica and back pain. Specialists will optimize the care to suit the needs of a particular patient.

The spinal cord carries electrical impulses between nerves and the brain. Therefore, injection of local anesthetics into the epidural space of the lower back blocks pain sensation on the leg and pelvic area.

Your anesthetist can assess the amount of feeling lost based on the type and concentration of the administered medications. However, before the effect wears off, you may not move your legs or hands.

The passing of urine will also be a challenge because the sensation that the bladder is full is absent. However, you will have a catheter to help you pass urine while on the epidural.

Preparing for the Procedure

The anesthetist will guide you on how to prepare for an epidural. It is contraindicated in patients with a history of blood clots or conditions affecting the lower back and nervous system. In addition, it is vital to tell the anesthetist if you are on blood thinners like clopidogrel, warfarin, and aspirin. During the process, you may remain awake, but you can also receive a sedative to help you relax.

Epidurals are effective in managing pain during labor. First, the anesthetist will request the patients to lie on their sides for proper medication administration, with their knees drawn up to their tummies and their chin tucked in. The patient can also sit on the bed while leaning forward. All these positions open up the vertebral space.

Epidural Pain Relief and Patient Safety

When it comes to the safe positioning of the patient and reducing risks of injuries to the caregivers like nurses, an epidural positioning device is vital. It reduces medical staff injuries and keeps patients safe. The device is the most widely employed in positioning for a variety of procedures.

The epidural chair is an example of a manual positioning device. It involves the medical staff placing the patient’s feet on the chair first and then inserting pillows underneath the upper body. Patients support their weight on the cushions.

The epidural chair has a solid foundation that can’t move easily. Instead, it provides an adjustable foot platform and locks into position to secure every patient for the procedure.

The device encourages lumbar, thoracic, and cervical flexion. In addition, it helps in epidural pain relief for pain during labor.

Benefits of Epidural Positioning Device

Some of the benefits associated with the device over the manual EPD include:

1. Lowers Risk of Complications

There is an increased risk of complexities because of the unique taxing nature of positioning in epidural procedures and spinal blocks. In the absence of a reliable and ergonomic solution like an epidural positioning device, health workers may have to use their bodies in positioning the patients and ensuring that they are secure.

The latter may cause physical injuries to the health care worker because the patient may become violent due to the intense pain. On the other hand, patients rely on pillows, but they voluntarily move when the pain becomes severe. Hence, compromising the process.

2. Eliminates Risk of Injury

Whether in preoperative settings, operating rooms, or other areas in the hospital, caregivers and nurses are having to manually position the patients for the epidural procedure. It involves the caregiver holding the stool, the table, and the patient using their body during the procedure.

The aim is to reduce movements from patients that may cause injuries. However, the act puts the assistant or nurse in a risky situation and may cause musculoskeletal injuries. Studies have revealed that awkward static holds carried out regularly cause musculoskeletal disorders. Nurses are the number one at risk profession for a MSDO and the EPD is a simple yet highly effective solution to reduce this risk.

The effects of an epidural pain relief wear off within two hours. You will be free of drowsiness associated with general anesthetics.

Reduce Risk Of Injury with the SPH Medical EPD
CategoriesPatient Handling

Epidural or Spinal Block

by sphmedicaladmin

Epidural Positioning Device Implementation to Improve Patient Outcomes and Healthcare Worker Safety

In the realm of anesthesia, there are many methods to help reduce a patient’s pain and suffering during operations or procedures. It takes an entire team of healthcare professionals to deliver safe and effective anesthesia that produces positive patient outcomes. One of the most common anesthesia types includes epidural anesthesia or spinal block, which is seen in the operating room and the labor and delivery room. The delivery of anesthesia in these modalities is much more technical and requires more staffing in general than general anesthesia. They need the anesthetist and supportive staff to be positioned in respect to the patient to deliver the medication effectively and safely. Patients also understand that they play a role during the anesthesia and must remain completely still during the procedure. The patient’s body habitus also plays a role in how well the patient and supporting staff can get the patient in the correct position.

Epidural anesthesia delivers medication into the area that lies above the epidural sac. Understanding the basic anatomy of the spinal cord and the vertebral column can help understand the positioning of a patient when it comes to the delivery of anesthesia. The epidural sac covers the spinal cord and creates a space where cerebrospinal fluid can nourish and cushion the spinal cord. The vertebrae that help protect the spinal cord have spinous processes that project posteriorly that protect and allow for mobility of the spine. When a patient is flexed, the spinous process angle between each other opens and exposes the spinal cord. The anesthetist can use this position to allow direct access to the Dural sac since the spinous process will be angled up and away in a flexed position.

The spinal cord and vertebral column’s anatomy and function are why epidural anesthesia requires the patient to be in a flexed-knee-to-chest position. The anesthetist will then have access to the spine to deliver the medication at the proper location safely. Often the additional staff is needed to help position the patient. The team who help position the patient can often find themselves in non-ergonomic positions to keep the patient from moving and allowing safe delivery of medication. An often-overlooked factor of patient safety and outcomes is the ergonomics of the staff that are included in procedures. Staff who must repeatedly put their bodies in awkward anatomical positions can put themselves at risk for a musculoskeletal injury. This can affect patient outcomes down the road if staff are not able to perform functions necessary for their task because of a musculoskeletal disorder.

A lot of research is being invested in staff ergonomics and safety to aid in improving patient outcomes. With respect to epidurals and similar procedures requiring patient positioning, an Epidural Positioner Device, or EPD, has been developed to provide safety to both the patient and the healthcare staff. Epidural positioning device benefits patient outcomes by allowing for safe and fast positioning of the patient. It can also be adjusted with respect to the patient’s body habitus. From the user standpoint, there are less movement and fewer complications with regards to catheter placement. The Epidural Positioner can also be used in settings that require the patient to be in a similar position, such as a Spinal Block. In a Spinal Block, the medication is administered within the Dural sac, whereas in an epidural, the medicine is administered just above the Dural sac. Both procedures require the patient to be in the same position, which allows the epidural positioning to be used in either setting.

The Epidural or Spinal Block and Thoracentesis

The Epidural Positioner has also found its way into Thoracentesis. This is a procedure where fluid from the thoracic is removed either for therapeutics or diagnostic studies. Allowing the patient to be placed in a less mobile position will enable the proceduralist to safely perform the Thoracentesis without injury to vital structures such as the lung. This device shows its promising advancement in patient outcomes when it comes to improving staff ergonomics and safety. It takes an entire medical team to take care of a patient. It is of utmost importance for any organization to seriously take the safety and health of each of its staff members.

Considering the EPD implementation, patient outcomes can be improved and allow for procedures to be carried out safely, effectively, and rapidly to help reduce negative outcomes and financial burdens to the healthcare system. In the realm of epidural or spinal block, pain and suffering can be reduced in the labor and delivery floor and in the operating suite. In diagnostic procedures like the spinal tap, a safer collection of specimens can be carried out while decreasing the risk of harming the patient during studies. In Thoracentesis, healthcare professionals can perform therapeutic procedures at a more effective and expedited timeline requiring less staff to hold the patient. Overall, the EPD or devices like it may find their way into other procedures to help decrease the risk of Musculoskeletal disorders and injuries to users and provide safe and effective healthcare.

The SPH Medical EPD improves patient safety
CategoriesPatient Handling

Epidural Trends and the Epidural Chair

by sphmedicaladmin

Current Epidural Trends in Hospitals and the Epidural Chair

Now more than ever in Labor and Delivery departments and in General Surgery areas the trend is to utilize the Epidural Chair to improve patient comfort and safety.  Equally important is the opportunity to improve safety for nursing and Anesthesia staff.  It is well known that the experience of childbirth is extremely painful for the mother. Modern medicine has advanced to provide mothers with epidural anesthesia for pain during labor. Epidural pain relief can make the child birthing experience less traumatic and exhausting for the mom. Epidural anesthesia depends on the technical abilities of the anesthetist. This requires assessing the risks that are present for the patient, positioning the patient for safe administration, and gathering the necessary staff to help with positioning. An often overlooked factor in patient outcomes in regard to pain relief is the ergonomics that nurses must respect during patient positioning to prevent themselves from developing musculoskeletal injury from repetitive patient positioning over their career. We will discuss these points in this article.

Proper positioning of the patient for safe and effective epidural pain relief can be understood with respect to the anatomy of the spinal column. The spinal cord is protected by the vertebral column. When a patient flexes their core, the posterior vertebral column spinal processes spread apart, allowing direct access to the dural sac that covers the spinal cord for anesthesia administration. Often, the nursing staff must help the patient remain in a still-flexed position to allow for safe administration. Depending on the patient’s body habitus, it can be difficult for nursing staff to hold the patient without compromising their own ergonomics. Patient positioning during administration of spinal anesthesia is very important.  EPD, commonly known as an epidural chair, has been implemented to help place patients flexed, allowing for effective anesthesia delivery.  The epidural positioning chair also doesn’t require nursing staff to put their bodies in stressful contortions, minimizing musculoskeletal injuries in the workplace.

Epidural pain relief is often significant to some expecting moms as they fear the pain during labor. Although it is a commonly performed procedure, epidural anesthesia does not come without its risk. Because the medication is being delivered near the dural sac and spinal cord, there is a risk of medication being administered within the dural sac. Risks seen during epidural anesthesia include a severe drop in blood pressure. Other side effects include difficulty urinating, nerve damage, nausea, vomiting, and infection.

Prevent Injury to the Spinal Cord

Injury to the spinal cord can also occur, with paralysis being a possible outcome. It is essential to understand these risks to help minimize negative outcomes. The Epidural chair helps decrease this risk by allowing the patient to be put in a fixed position that won’t disturb the anesthetist. Safety and reliability are of utmost importance in healthcare, and the EPD can provide proper positioning with adjustments in respect to the patient’s body habitus. Although there are many factors that go into the safe delivery of anesthesia, the utilization of an epidural chair can help mitigate the risk with respect to the proper positioning of the patient.

EPD can be used outside of the labor and delivery floor. With respect to spinal blocks and spinal taps, the chair is used because both procedures require the exact positioning. Spinal taps come with similar risks and can be mitigated similarly with the use of the chair. Often time patients who may need a spinal tap for therapeutic or diagnostic purposes must have a risk assessment which includes the ability to position the patient properly. In the pediatric population, a chair is not as helpful as children often require some form of sedation to help with patient positioning because of their age. In the adult population where body habitus is varied, an EPD chair that can be adjusted to reproduce the same position can help improve patient outcomes.

The Epidural Anesthesia

Epidural anesthesia can also be used to supplement general anesthesia for surgery and to help with pain alleviation during post-operative recovery. Surgeries that occur in the lower extremities can often be excruciating in the post-operative recovery period. Supplemental pain relief can help the patient feel more comfortable, and reduced pain perception can help a patient recover faster by complying with post-operative therapy. The utilization of an Epidural Positioning Device can help mitigate a safe and quick administration of a spinal block even in spite of staff not being able to be present for patient positioning. This kind of anesthesia helps reduce the usage of opioids for patients who refuse or patients with a history of opioid abuse.

Overall The utilization of an epidural positioning chair can help deliver safe and reliable anesthesia while reducing the risks of the procedure, the requirement of staffing, and the risk of musculoskeletal injuries. This chair can be utilized in similar procedures such as the spinal tap or even thoracentesis, which shows promising application outside of just epidural anesthesia. This trend to improve patient and staff safety using the EPD is increasing. Word is spreading in clinical circles that the simplicity and ease of use of the EPD drives compliance and therefore reduces risk, a very positive trend indeed.

References:

Comparing Three Different Modified Sitting Positions for Ease of Spinal Needle Insertion in Patients Undergoing Spinal Anesthesia by Sussan Soltani Mohammadi, Mohammadreza Piri, and Alireza Khajehnasiri 2017

CategoriesPatient Handling

Epidural Safety for Patients and Staff

by sphmedicaladmin

What is Epidural Safety?

Epidural Analgesia’s are used to reduce or completely eliminate pain. It is when the doctor inserts opioids or local anesthesia in their patient’s epidural space, which blocks the nerve roots. Staff and patients can be protected from injury when exercising epidural safety during this procedure.

Local anesthesia can include opioids such as morphine, hydromorphone, and fentanyl or drugs of a different class such as mepivacaine, lidocaine, bupivacaine, and ropivacaine. Mepivacaine and lidocaine can last up to 2.5 hours. Bupivacaine and ropivacaine are the options of choice for continuous epidural effusion because they last 4 to 7 hours. The walking epidural is a mix of narcotics, epinephrine, and local anesthesia that the doctor inserts into the patient’s epidural space.

Epidural Analgesia’s are often used during child birth to assist the woman in managing her pain. They are also utilized during surgery to numb the patient. Epidurals are often effective in blocking pain from the waist down. Their dosage is calculated by an anesthesiologist based on the type of epidural and how much of the patient needs to be numbed. They can eliminate pain for people in short term or long term situations.

Common Applications

Epidurals come in different types, depending on what they are being used for. Childbirth uses the standard epidural and the combined spinal epidural, which is also called the walking epidural. The walking epidural involves the administration needle coming in contact with the fluid around the spinal cord, whereas the needle does not meet the fluid around the spinal cord in the standard epidural.

The Benefits for Patients and Nurses

The benefits of having an epidural are plentiful. The walking epidural is beneficial because it allows for the mother to still have an awareness of the lower half of her body when giving birth. This allows the patient and nurse to coordinate the rhythm of her pushes. A walking epidural may or may not allow the mother to do cat and cow stretches. The standard epidural is beneficial because it completely eliminates feeling, which can avoid patients going into shock during invasive surgery, trauma, or child birth.

Epidural Safety and the Risks of Epidurals

The risks for patients when getting either type of epidural are low blood pressure, being mandated to stay in bed, and having to rely on a catheter. The catheter can cause problems such as the rare case of hematoma, epidural abscess, postdural puncture syndrome, and infection at the site of insertion.

Standard epidurals leave the patient with no feeling in the lower extremities, which can prevent the ability to shift in bed and the ability to move the baby into a more favorable position when birthing. Standard epidurals also involve the risk of local anesthetic toxicity, which can present with irritability, seizures, circumoral paresthesia, dysgeusia, cardiac dysrhythmias, tremors, and tinnitus.

The drugs used for epidurals can also have side effects on the patient. The opioids commonly used can cause nausea, vomiting, respiratory depression, decreased levels of consciousness, and the excessive itchiness all over the body.

Nurses and medical personnel are at risk for getting injuries when administering epidurals as well. Positioning the patient correctly and supporting them while administering the epidural can be a potentially dangerous task. This has typically been a manual process of holding and supporting the patient. Manual patient handling is the cause of many back injuries for nurses across the country as well as strains and sprains. Musculoskeletal Disorders The Epidural Positioning Device is a key tool to keep the patient and doctor safe. It assists patients with maintaining the optimal position for their epidural to be administered. This is because it supports cervical, thoracic, and lumbar flexion. This positioning is essential because a patient can be paralyzed if they were to slip out of position while the needle was injected. The chair prevents doctors and staff from straining as well. It also allows patients more personal space, as opposed to traditional methods of epidural safety administration.

The EPD is used for Thoracentesis
CategoriesPatient Handling

Epidural Chair for Epidural Safety

by sphmedicaladmin

Epidural Analgesia for Pain Relief During Labor and Delivery

Epidural injections or epidural anesthesia is defined as regional anesthesia that blocks pain in a specific area of the body. To perform an epidural injection, the anesthesiologist utilizes a hollow needle to place an epidural catheter, which is a small and flexible plastic tube, into the space between the spinal column and outer membrane of the spinal cord (epidural space). This is in the middle or lower back. The area that the catheter will be placed will first receive a local anesthetic. As a result of the epidural injection, the nerve messages are blocked, which in turn causes numbness and also epidural pain relief in the lower half of the body. In terms of applications, epidural anesthesia is usually used for legs and lower belly surgeries, for helping control pain after chest and belly related major surgeries, as well as for relieving pain during labor and delivery. This is a complicated procedure so epidural safety is extremely important.

With respect to labor and delivery, a lot of women decide on having the epidural injection in order to cope with the severe pain during the whole birthing process. In this case, an epidural pump is utilized where pain relief drugs are continuously administered through the epidural tube mentioned earlier. The pain during labor is relieved as long as the drugs are being constantly pumped into the body. When the pumping is stopped, the entire feeling will come back within a few hours.

Epidural Pain Relief and Epidural Safety

In addition to epidural pain relief, the main pros for having an epidural injection during labor and delivery is being able to rest and relax, which helps a lot of women have a positive birthing experience.  Another main advantage for taking an epidural is that it helps women be more alert, which in turn allows them to take an active role during their birthing process. Last, but not least, recent research shows that epidural injections may play a role in reducing postpartum depression in a certain number of females.

With the high frequency of epidural injections occurring in during labor and delivery units across the country, it’s important to consider the manual patient handling involved in positioning patients and the safety risks for patients and nurses alike.  A device that should be considered is the epidural chair or the epidural positioning device (EPD). Patented in 2001, the epidural positioning device reduces risk of injury to nursing staff and improves patient comfort. The EPD features a 180 degrees adjustable face rest, a six position adjustable armrest allowing patients to comfortably rest their arms, an adjustable torso support to promote spinal flexion, and a height adjustable foot rest.  The EPD is not just for labor and delivery. The EPD is currently considered the standard of care by surgical staff to administer spinal blocks prior to total hip and knee surgeries. With the functional design and obvious safety benefits the SPH Medical EPD has become the standard of care wherever spinals and epidurals are performed.

From a clinical perspective, anesthesiologists are using the epidural chair permits to encourage lumbar, thoracic and cervical flexion, positioning patients in both a correct and comfortable manner and importantly a stable, safe and secure position as well. The stable positioning supported by the Epidural Chair reduced the risks of complication while the anesthesiologist places the epidural. Thanks to the EPD, nursing staff are not having to hold patients in a static position, apply counter pressure, or manually handle patients. A number of recent studies have shown that the comfort and satisfaction levels of a large number of female patients that received the epidural analgesia were significantly higher when the epidural positioning device was used.

Reduce Risk of Injury in The Labor and Delivery Unit

Healthcare workers and patients are placed at risk of injury in the labor and delivery unit when staff members are manually handling patients.  Whether it is holding, lifting, boosting or pushing the patient in a proper position, the patient not being able to change his or her position and follow the staff instructions, or even the patient being nervous, unpredictable or maybe nauseous and dizzy, positioning patients can be a very challenging task.

In point of fact, when handling patients during epidural injections, a large number of nurses are at risk of micro tears in their joints and vertebral discs that could eventually lead to injuries. Fortunately, thanks to the epidural positioning device, nurses and healthcare workers not only avoid these safety risks and challenging situations, but are also free to perform other imperative tasks.

CategoriesPatient Handling

Epidural Chair for Thoracentesis

by sphmedicaladmin

Why use the Epidural Chair for Thoracentesis

Thoracentesis is an invasive procedure used to diagnose and medicate pleural effusions, during the treatment of a condition whereby excess fluid accumulates in the pleural space. Thoracentesis is used to manage symptoms like pain and shortness of breath. It relieves pressure in your lungs and provides epidural pain relief. The procedure also establishes the cause of the excess fluid found in the pleural space. Conditions such as tumors, lung infections, and heart failure are some of the causes of pleural effusions. This article offers you valuable information on the thoracentesis procedure and how the epidural chair can help the process.

Why is proper positioning important?

Patients are often encouraged to sit upright when the medical personnel performs the procedure. Sometimes women in pain during labor are encouraged to rest their hands on a pillow placed on a bedside table. It helps pulmonologists and sonographers access the posterior axillary space. That is a dependable part of the thorax and offers epidural pain relief to them.

Proper positioning is also vital for the safety of sick people. Hospitals should be guided by principles of Ergonomics when looking into their positioning. Ergonomics looks into the creation of tasks suited to worker’s capabilities. When used in handling the sick, it incorporates safety procedures and mechanical equipment used to move and lift them so that health care employees avoid manual exertions. Moreover, patient handling ergonomics maximizes their comfort and safety during movement.

How long is the procedure?

Thoracentesis is performed in a hospital by pulmonologists and sonographers. It usually takes 10 to 15 minutes. However, if an individual has a lot of fluid in their pleural space, it takes more than 15 minutes.

Why are nurses at risk of injury during this procedure, and why does the EPD benefit them?

One of the worst risk factors for nurse injuries during thoracentesis lies in moving and lifting patients. Manual handling of the sick is amongst the leading cause of back injuries, especially in nurses. Most American states require hospitals to adhere to the Safe Patient Handling program. This program evaluates high-risk tasks in inpatient units like pushing, pulling, lifting, and prolonged static holds. It establishes solutions centered on lessening the risk.

A nurse usually assists the patient to get into the proper position by moving around the bedside tray table and using the stool to offer support to their feet. During labor pain, they use a pillow to place the hands to ensure that they are comfortable. Nurses may trip if the bedside table is not locked securely. Therefore, risky positioning can contribute to unnecessary injury to patients and medical staff.

The Epidural Positioning Device benefits nurses in several ways. One of them is positioning the patient in a comfortable position that provides epidural pain relief faster. The nurse can help other health care personnel with other duties as they are not limited to holding the patient.

The device ensures that the sick person sits in the epidural chair steadily. That puts the nurse at ease when performing this procedure. It correctly positions the person who is ill since it is adjustable. Consequently, It helps the nurse to put them in the most optimal position. The epidural chair ensures there is no movement, which is crucial to nurses when conducting the procedure.

How does the Epidural Chair (Epidural Positioning Device) Help position Patients During Thoracentesis

The Epidural Positioning Device helps to solve risk factors attributed to administering the procedure and manual patient handling challenges. It assists in patient positioning to minimize unsafe manual patient handling that is being performed every day during this procedure. The EPD ensures a comfortable and relaxed flexed spine position for the patient while maintaining a stable position. Medical personnel recommend it for more than Thoracentesis including women in pain during labor, pain centers, and operating rooms. It also offers pain relief in the epidural as well as spinal relief.

The stand offers adjustable foot support to assist in patient positioning. It also has an adjustable mount for the epidural device that consists allows it to be attached directly to an operating table. The epidural chair reduces risk of errors, avoids accidents, improves patient comfort, and lowers injury risks to staff. These factors contribute to medical personnel satisfaction and patient outcomes. They are a comfortable and efficient option that guarantees the happiness of the sick and nursing staff.

CategoriesPatient Handling

Epidural Chair and Pain Relief

by sphmedicaladmin

The Epidural Chair, Reduce the Risk of Complications

Pain during labor is among the most common reasons that people get an epidural with over half of women in the US electing to receive epidural anesthesia. It is important to administer an epidural properly to ensure adequate pain relief and to reduce the risk of complications. Learning more about epidural pain relief and the epidural chair can help to ensure that you make an informed decision.

When an Epidural is Used

A doctor might recommend an epidural when you are in labor, for long-term pain relief for certain types of back and neck pain and to anesthetize you for certain surgical procedures. During surgery and labor, an epidural gives you continuous relief from your pain for your lower body. While you will not lose all feeling, it reduces the sensation of pain enough to keep you comfortable.

For neck or back pain, an epidural injection may be used that delivers numbing medicine and steroids to the painful area. The pain relief that you get lasts for up to a year for some people, but for others, it lasts for a few weeks. Your doctor might recommend these injections when you go through physical therapy to keep you more comfortable or instead of powerful pain medications.

Why is Proper Positioning Important?

The right position is critical for fast administration and for patient safety and comfort. Proper positioning can be especially challenging during labor since the patient’s episodic pain can make it harder for them to get into position and stay there until the epidural is complete.

When using an epidural chair or EPD, it allows the patient to naturally get into the proper position. It also gives them a structure to hold onto so that they can remain still enough for safe and proper insertion of the needle. This helps to ensure greater safety and it makes it easier to get the patient pain relief faster.

What is the Risk to the Patient?

If an epidural is not administered properly, there is the risk of injury to the patient. You could experience longer lasting tingling and numbness in your feet or legs. These effects could mean that nerve damage has occurred. For some people, these effects can last for several weeks. Should nerve damage be present, you might need further medical treatment.

Another risk is an epidural abscess affecting major nerves in the area and your spinal cord. Permanent nerve damage is possible if the infection goes untreated. In the most severe cases of an untreated epidural abscess, bodily function loss is possible.

Why Are Nurses at Risk of Injury During an Epidural?

During an epidural, nurses will help to position the patient and take care of any mobilization. This could include static holding of patients. All of these activities can stress the nurse’s body and even put them at risk for things like muscle strains. In the most severe of cases, ruptured spinal discs are possible due to abnormal twisting of the body.

How Does an Epidural Chair Benefit Nurses?

 

An Epidural Positioning Device takes a lot of stress off of the nurse’s body when preparing and helping a patient during an epidural. Nurses can adjust the EpiduralChair and once they help the patient into the proper position, they do not have to worry about static holding. All of this increases the nurse’s safety and makes everything more comfortable for the patient and the nurse.

 

Whether you have pain during labor or you are getting certain minor surgical procedure, epidural pain relief can make a big difference. To reduce discomfort during the epidural insertion, an epidural chair can make a big difference. It can also make the process go faster so that you get relief from your pain.

CategoriesPatient Handling

Epidural Pain Relief and Patient Safety

by sphmedicaladmin

Epidural Pain Relief: Positioning for maximum safety

An epidural, is often used throughout the U.S. to relieve pain during contractions and delivery without restricting the mothers’ ability to have control and strength to push the baby out. For an epidural, medicine is administered through a tube inserted by the anesthesiologist in the lower back. A mixture of anesthetics and analgesics can be included in the epidural for women who are delivering vaginally. The medicine will cause a loss of sensation in the lower extremities and the mother is still awake and alert. The epidural provides the needed pain relief for the mother to bear down to push the infant through the birth canal successfully. For women who are having a cesarean delivery, the anesthetic dose in the epidural can be increased. This type of epidural causes a loss of feeling in the lower half of the woman’s body. Epidural pain relief may also be necessary for some patients after delivery.

Why Is Proper Positioning Important For an Epidural?

The patient’s position is very important for the epidural to be administered properly, reduce the risk of side effects, and adequately reduce pain during labor. Nursing safety is also an important concern during patient positioning and epidural placement. There are two typical positions for the patient to be positioned in for optimal placement. First, there is the side lying position. In this position the patient should lay on their side in bed to allow the Doctor to access the spine. The second position is a sitting position at the edge of the bed leaning over a pillow with knees raised to create sacral curvature. The legs are typically raised by having the patient put her feet on a stool.  Medical staff will assist the patient to ensure she is in the correct position before and during the epidural block.

For maximum safety and secure positioning, the nurses can bring in an epidural chair. The epidural chair, also known as an EPD, or epidural positioning device makes it more comfortable for the patient and safer for everyone. The EPD ensures that the patients’ back is curved and they are fully supported without having to lean on a nurse! The EPD has a head rest, arm supports, a central pad that extend toward the patients chest to promote spinal flexion, and a foot plate for support. All these components are adjustable to fit the needs of each patient. Proper positioning of the body reduces the risk of error or complications when the epidural is placed.

Avoiding manual patient handling is important for nurses to remain safe during the Epidural procedure.  The EPD Solves this problem.  In the image below the nurse is supporting the patient and putting her neck back and shoulders at risk.

Stools that don’t lock can create unnecessary risks for patients and nurses.

The epidural is performed under local anesthesia using a sterile technique. When the nerves of the skin are numb from the local anesthetic, the epidural needle is inserted between the spine area of the lumbar vertebra to get to the “epidural space,” which is just outside of the spine. This space contains the spinal nerves and cerebrospinal fluid. When anesthetics are administered to this area, the pain of childbirth is reduced. Most of the time, epidural pain relief is continuous, which means the medical staff will place a soft, small catheter or tube into the epidural space with a needle. A sterile dressing is used to secure the tube to the patient’s back. This constant flow of medication is continuously administered to the patient during labor and delivery to reduce pain and discomfort.

What Are the Risks to the Patient?

Epidurals are generally safe, especially if the patient was sitting in an epidural chair to receive the medication. However, in some cases, patients can experience:

  • Nerve pain
  • Significant drop in blood pressure, which can cause nausea and lightheadedness
  • Itchy skin
  • temporary loss of bladder control
  • General sick feeling
  • Headaches

Once the epidural anesthesia begins to wear off, it is common for patients to feel numbness in their legs until the medicine has completely worn off, which can take a few hours. It is best for the patient to sit or lie down until feeling in the legs is restored. Patients will often feel tingling in their legs after the epidural is removed, but this symptom is temporary. Patients are advised not to operate machinery, consume alcohol, or drive for 24 hours after the epidural is removed.

How Does an EPD Reduce the Risk or Injury to Nurses Administering the Epidural?

An epidural positioning device not only makes medication administration more comfortable for the patient but also keeps nurses from sustaining work-related injuries, MSD’s. When a nurse has to statically hold the patient in position, support the patient or catch a falling patient, this could cause injury to the nurse. Using the EPD means that the patient is properly supported and in the ideal position every time. The EPD becomes a standard of care. Using the EPD that will position the patient comfortably so the nurse can provide effective care as efficiently as possible with the best possible outcome.

Epidurals are a safe choice for many women who want to manage the pain of labor and delivery. The procedure is recommended by Anesthesiologists for optimal pain relief.

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