Joleen Beiley and Stephen Gafford lift patient David Eurey using a floating mattress called a HoverMatt, which uses air streams that lift the mattress.
To safely lift Bernard Valencia out of his hospital bed, Cheri Moore uses a ceiling lift and sling. The VA hospital in Loma Linda, Calif., has safe patient handling technology throughout the hospital
Tony Hilton (left), the safe patient handling and mobility coordinator at the VA hospital in Loma Linda, gives Ruby Baker a safety tip sheet.
Eurey is moved via a self-driving gurney that does not need any force by the person driving it at the VA hospital in Loma Linda.
npr:
Bernard Valencia’s room in the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Medical Center in Loma Linda, Calif., illustrates how hospitals across the country could fight a nationwide epidemic. As soon as you enter the room, you can see one of the main strategies: A hook hangs from a metal track that runs across the ceiling.
This isn’t some bizarre way of fighting hospital-acquired infections or preventing the staff from getting needle sticks. The contraption is a ceiling hoist designed to lift and move patients with a motor instead of muscle.
As NPR has reported in our investigative series Injured Nurses, nursing employees suffer more debilitating back and other injuries than almost any other occupation — and they get those injuries mainly from doing the everyday tasks of lifting and moving patients.
But the Loma Linda hospital is part of a nationwide health care system that is proving hospitals can dramatically reduce the rate of injuries caused by lifting — if administrators are willing to invest the time and money.
The name of the system might surprise you. It’s the VA — the Department of Veterans Affairs.
At VA Hospitals, Training And Technology Reduce Nurses’ Injuries
Photo credit: Annie Tritt for NPR
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