received immediate push-
back from surgical teams
who balked at the change,
but they became enthusi-
astic converts after several
simulated surgeries.
Dr. Reeves acknowl-
edges shifting the position
of the OR tables isn't prac-
tical in newer ORs with
booms hung from the ceil-
ing at the center of the
room, but insists the shift would work with mobile cart-mounted
equipment or floor-based, moveable equipment towers. "It costs noth-
ing to at least try," he points out.
Transfer with ease
Workplace musculoskeletal injuries are on the rise in health care, per-
haps because the majority of nurses are nearing retirement age and
repetitive strain injuries have a cumulative effect. "You might feel
strong and confident, and decide to move a patient on your own, com-
pletely unaware of what spinal compression has been doing over
time," says Deborah Totzkay, DNP, RN, ACNP-BC, CNOR, educational
nurse educator at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann
Arbor. "Then you bend over one day and a disc bursts. That injury
was years in the making."
Even though evidence-based best practices for patient handling exist,
injuries still occur, according to Ms. Totzkay, in part because of the
increasing body masses of patients.
She aims to fill the gap between actual patient handling practices
O C T O B E R 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 6 1
• HAVING THEIR BACKS Staff members who use an air-assisted lateral
transfer device move no more than 15% of the patient's weight.
