774 Safe Patient Handling Program

Facilitating Change

Establishing and maintaining a successful safe patient handling program will likely require a culture change throughout the hospital. The American Nurses Association (ANA) recommends employers and healthcare workers partner to establish a culture which emphasizes safety as the top priority above competing goals.

According to ANA's standards, a culture of safety includes:

• acknowledgement of the risk
• commitment to provide resources to consistently achieve safe operations
• blame-free environment where workers can report errors or incidents without fear
• emphasis on collaboration across sectors and settings

Principles that go beyond equipment and procedures help create a prevention-based culture of safety, and in turn benefit patient safety as well.

Modeling Safe Patient Handling Behaviors

Modeling safe patient handling behaviors is key to facilitating change. Along with overall safety coordinators, the dedicated safety champions or "coaches" on each floor or unit should encourage their colleagues to follow safe patient handling policies and procedures. These individuals continually remind and educate their peers about the program and promote a cultural mindset of safety. Nurse managers also can help to support and reinforce the program with staff.

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