Reducing Occupational Risk to Ambulatory Caregivers

Abstract

In recent years, safe patient handling in the health care industry has been addressed by various stakeholders, but much work remains to reduce health care worker injuries, and improve safety and care quality for patients. Recently, safe patient handling in ambulatory care settings has gained attention. As health care delivery evolves, demands on ambulatory care will increase and more dependent patients will visit ambulatory care clinics. Typically, ambulatory care clinics are not equipped with appropriate safe patient handling equipment. Examination tables, standard in ambulatory care clinics, currently have fixed height and are not easily accessible. This study investigated the benefits of introducing new height-adjustable examination tables to an ambulatory care setting. The results of this study indicate that by using height-adjustable examination tables, work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD) risk for caregivers can be significantly reduced.

Keywords: disability case management; global occupational health; health promotion; occupational hazards; occupational health and safety programs; occupational health and safety team; safety; workers compensation.