Ergonomic Injuries
Employees can suffer ergonomic injuries during the handling, transferring, and positioning of patients.
Ergonomic injuries can occur when lifting patients from a wheelchair.
Patient handling tasks pose increased ergonomic risk if they:
- are repetitive (e.g., repeatedly cranking manual adjustments for beds)
- done using awkward postures (e.g., reaching across beds to lift patients)
- require a large amount of force (e.g., pushing chairs or gurneys across elevation changes or up ramps)
- include lifting heavy objects (e.g., manually lifting immobile patients alone)
- require twisting the back while lifting and moving patients
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-2. Patient handling tasks pose increased ergonomic risks if they _____.
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