Safe Patient Handling in Health Care:

Applied Ergonomics for Nurses and Health Care Workers and Patient Orientation

Presented by the Oregon Nurses Association, Bay Area Hospital and the University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center

This training program is designed to be used as a supplement and in conjunction with the Oregon OSHA's Back Injury Prevention Guide for Health Care Providers and Ergonomics Awareness Training courses available through Oregon OSHA. For more information, see the Ergonomics topic page.

The program is designed with flexibility in mind. Tailor this program to meet your organization's specific needs, for example, the materials provided can be used to develop or enhance an existing ergonomics or safe-lift program at your facility.

The training program is divided into two sections:

1. Applied Ergonomics for Nurses and Health Care Workers:

Instructor Guide
Video
PowerPoint presentation
Attendance sheet (Instructor guide, page 65)
Training quiz (Instructor guide, page 66)
Course evaluation (Instructor guide, page 69)

2. Patient Orientation:

Instructor guide(page 56)
Video
Participant handout (Instructor guide, page 71)

Additional program contents

Safe Patient Handling in Health Care: A Guide for Instructors including all appendices
Applied Ergonomics for Nurses and Health Care Workers
Back Injury Prevention Guide for Health Care Providers, Oregon OSHA
OSHA Guidelines for Nursing Homes: Ergonomics for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders, Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Ergonomics Program Steps for Health Care Flow Chart, Enos, L.
Patient Safety Center of Inquiry, Veterans health Administration, and Department of Defense Veterans Administration Hospital, Tampa, Florida, resourced documents:

Patient Care Ergonomics Resource Guide: "Safe Patient Handling and Movement," Part 1 & Part 2
Algorithms for Patient Handling
Algorithms for Bariatrics