2015 , Apr 10
By Bryan Fass
Among the benefits of teaching more than 500 classes per year is I get to see a lot of patterns in EMS and Fire -rescue; of how responders go designs, lift, pull, carry, transfer and simply walk. I also get to hear a lot of stories about how few ever get back to normal after an injury and how responders got damage.
My aha moment one day was simply this: "EMS is in the moving company; we are movers!"
EMS is in the company that is transferring
(Picture Bryan Fass)
ASSOCIATED POSTS
The best way to make use of stretchers and cots for their full potential
2 EMS lifting methods to lessen injuries
4 steps to remain injury free
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Every aspect of our job is not mental, all of our tools are heavy and folks that are moving is a vital job task. Yet as a profession we spend little to no time training the best way to move things safely.
A question I ask in all my classes is "When was the most recent time you had a thorough patient and equipment handling class?" What I get back are blank stares and eventually a number of people grumbling, 'never.' We spend most if not all of our training time on operations and clinical superiority and never spend time training to do the most essential job task, moving patients.
Since we are medical movers, sections have to do a much better job teaching providers the reason why they get hurt and how to prevent it. First thing we must analyze is what the loads we lift do to our body.
Just how much weight is safe to lift?
NIOSH has a raise equation and while complicated, it tells us one thing: The weight limitation for a person is 51 pounds. Picking on an item off the floor of this weight will put around 764 to 800 pounds of compressive load on the back. It is if that seems like a lot. We are aware that at approximately 800 pounds, the backbone of an untrained person (someone who does not work out, is dehydrated, fatigued, or eats poorly) will start to be injured. When was the final time you picked on a 51-pound patient off the ground? Many providers take a compressive load of over 2000 pounds every day; multiple times per shift. [ 1,2, 3]
FEMA states in their emergency medical services handbook that lifts should be limited by EMS below the knees. These lifts create a number of the greatest spinal loads we see in providers. If we step out of the EMS box for a second we are able to look at other 'proceeding' professions and make the connection that we are just one of the only professions that enable its workers to frequently lift extreme loads from below the knees on a frequent basis. So when what we perceive to be modest loads really exceed what our body is able to handle, it leads to providers becoming quite proficient at the dangerous motion of lifting from below the knees. [4]
Let us look at lateral transfers and take it a step farther. Pulling a 105- of compressive force, while pounds between 832 to 1,708 is applied by pound patient via bedsheet between two beds taking the same patient down a set of stairs compresses the spine . pounds with 1,012 to 1,281 [1,2] Again we often surpass the ability of the human body to dissipate external the or dampen loads put upon it.
4 suggestions for safer lifting
(Image Bryan Fass)
1. Discontinue lifting from the floor
As we educate all our students, "use a tool, usually do not become the tool." Most systems already have the tools on the trucks that could change the lift height. Use your MegaMover(TMark), Reeves(TMark), or Titan(TMark) to change the lift height from the floor to almost knee height, where we're much stronger and possess a much better backbone angle.
2. Lateral transfers are handled for by use
Then the friction reducing device is already beneath the individual, if you follow step one above. Simply slide them over to the hospital bed by means of something that has handles and reduces friction. The handles mean that on the pull, responders usually do not have to lean over so far to start the transfer.
3. Work collectively
If and when there are trained personnel on scene, everyone is about the elevator. As a culture Fire and EMS -saving demand to know that when one man can be hurt by 51 pounds, then it only makes sense that a 350-pound patient demands all hands. This goes for your cots that are powered as well; place two folks on the foot of the cot for loading to the truck.
4. Slo