Every single day, health care workers around the world devote their time, their efforts, and their passion towards helping others to heal. They are caring for those in need of medical attention, and protecting patients from further injury. But what are we doing to help risk reduction for Nurses and health care workers?

Risk Reduction for Nurses

For those of us that do not work in a healthcare setting, it is so easy to take for granted the seemingly simplistic tasks health care professionals must undertake on a daily basis. But it is these very routine, common demands that present our nation’s RNs with the greatest risk for nursing injury.

In 2016, a study conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor found that over 50% of all injuries sustained by registered nurses involved a repositioning injury caused by overexertion or by improper lifting techniques, resulting in strains, sprains, and tears.

The fast-paced nature of the healthcare profession often sees registered nurses moving quickly and efficiently, but also in a position where the daily demands see them completing tasks without any support. One of the most prevalent risks faced by this community of public servants involves something as seemingly simple as moving their patients. On the surface, this task may appear as simple as it is mundane, but after carefully considering not only the frequency with which nurses must move their patients throughout each day, the sheer number of times they are required to do this each week within a hospital setting, in addition to the lack of support typically received by each nurse each time they are tasked with moving or adjusting a patient, it is absolutely no wonder that this activity is the #1 cause of injuries sustained by nurses on the job.

Fortunately, technology has come a long way in the development of safety protocols and in reducing risk factors faced by nurses every single day. The gold standard of the health care industry in completing patient transfers is the SPH Medical Air Powered Lateral Transfer System. This product allows healthcare professionals to move patients, to transfer them from one bed to another, or to adjust them in bed without exposure to all the risk-factors historically present while moving patients in a healthcare setting. The SPH Medical Air Transfer & Positioning System also offers medical facilities the following benefits:

1. Enhanced Infection Prevention; SPU Transfer Mat reduces risk of cross contamination of deadly pathogens between equipment and people
2. Single-use application ensures availability to RNs within their unit (*no laundry issues)
3. Ease of use for healthcare providers—accessibility & inventory management
4. Cost-effective product for medical institutions
5. Maximize patient comfort and enhance experience during transfer
6. Minimizes risk of injury to nurses during transfers and while moving or repositioning patients
7. Means of streamlining a universal methodology of safe patient practices.
8. Improved nursing safety and satisfaction when assistive devices are available = nurse retention

Historically speaking, the days of once having to pull a patient from a bed over to a gurney using a draw sheet or sliding board are, and should be, long gone. These methods are hazardous to medical staff, as they simply do not reduce the friction enough to make it safe.

Protecting the Protectors with an Air Powered Lateral Transfer System

Although products such as the Hovermatt and Stryker Glide to provide similar ease of transfer, the SPH Medical Air Powered Lateral Transfer System has been recommended by hospitals and nurses alike for all adult patients having to be transferred off the OR Table post-surgery in reducing the risk of injury for staff while also maximizing patient comfort and care. This system creates a thin cushion of air underneath an inflated mattress that reduces friction and helps staff ‘float’ patients from one surface to another.

The same systems can also be utilized to reposition patients up in their beds, addressing the other very-high risk task of ‘in bed repositioning’ or ‘boosting’ a patient. Once a manual task that required two nurses to take hold of a patient’s bed sheet and together lift the patient into position, the SPH Medical Air Transfer and Positioning System mattress is breathable and can stay underneath patients and be used to boost them up in bed.

Of all the products available, by far the gold standard of the medical field when it comes to transfers is the SPH Medical Air Powered Lateral Transfer System. This premier, industry-leading tool minimizes cross-contamination by being single-use while also ensuring that nurses have the products that they need to perform routine tasks without the risk of injury. Nurses and Health Care Workers around the world dedicate their lives to improving the lives of those around them. Using the SPH Medical Lateral Transfer Systems are one way we can reciprocate their care, compassion, and concern and help with risk reduction for Nurses and Caregivers.