Patient Handling and Hospital Worker Injuries
Many different types of hospital and health care workers have jobs that require patient handling. To be sure, nurses, nursing assistants, and various types of therapists and hospital staff must transfer patients, lift patients, and reposition patients as part of their routine workplace duties. Yet these common tasks can also be among the most hazardous when it comes to hospital work injuries. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), nurses and nursing assistants have some of the highest rates of musculoskeletal injuries and disorders among any workers, and a very high number of those injuries result from patient handling.
As OSHA explains it, “these injuries are due in large part to overexertion related to repeated manual patient handling activities, often involving heavy manual lifting associated with transferring, and repositioning patients and working in extremely awkward postures.” What do you need to know about these types of injuries and eligibility for workers’ compensation? Consider the following information from our Maryland workers’ compensation attorneys.
Types of Patient Handling Tasks That Cause Injuries
On an annual basis, workers miss more than 18,000 days of work due to musculoskeletal disorders, and patient handling is a leading cause. What are some of the specific types of patient handling duties that result in musculoskeletal injuries or disorders? OSHA cites the following:
- Transferring patients from a chair to the toilet and vice versa;
- Transferring patients from a chair to the bed and vice versa;
- Transferring patients from a chair to the bathtub and vice versa;
- Repositioning a patient from side to side in a bed;
- Lifting a patient who is in a bed;
- Repositioning a patient who is in a chair; and
- Making a bed while a patient is in the bed.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), registered nurses and nursing assistants are the two types of hospital workers who most regularly sustain work-related musculoskeletal disorders, usually due to overexertion, that require missed days from the job.
Workers’ Compensation Benefits for Patient Handling Injuries Among Hospital Workers
Whether you were injured while handling a patient as a registered nurse, nursing assistant, or other health care professional in a hospital setting, you may be eligible for workers’ compensation benefits.
In order to receive workers’ compensation benefits, you will need to prove that your injury arose out of and occurred in the course of your employment. This is something that an experienced Maryland hospital worker injury attorney can help you to prove so that you can begin receiving medical care and wage replacement benefits.
Contact Our Maryland Hospital Worker Injury Lawyers for Assistance Today
Nurses, nursing assistants, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and other staff members all perform work in hospital settings that can require moving patients or helping to shift patients into different positions, depending on the circumstances. While it might not immediately strike you as a common source of injury, patient handling is one of the leading causes of musculoskeletal disorders and other traumatic injuries among hospital staff. If you were injured while handling a patient as part of your job at a Maryland hospital, it is important to find out more about seeking workers’ compensation benefits. An experienced Maryland hospital worker injury lawyer at the Law Offices of Steinhardt, Siskind and Lieberman, LLC can speak with you today about your injury and the best path forward for seeking workers’ compensation benefits.
Sources:
cdc.gov/niosh/healthcare/prevention/sphm.html
osha.gov/healthcare/safe-patient-handling
