From the Massachusetts Nurse Newsletter
Janaury/February 2006 Edition
Compiled by Jamie Tessler, MPH
Occupational Ergonomics Consultant
1. Patient care ergonomics resource guide: safe patient handling and movement
www.visn8.med.va.gov/patientsafetycenter/
By the Patient Safety Center of Inquiry of the Veteran’s Health Administration and the Department of Defense, Ergonomics Technical Advisory Group. This guide may be the most comprehensive resource to date for health care facilities on workplace assessment; equipment evaluation; patient assessment; no-lift policies; administrative strategies; and establishing competency programs.
2. Nursing home initiative: getting to zero
www.lni.wa.gov/Safety/Research/files/GettingZero.pdf
The Safety and Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP) program within the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries launched an initiative to implement and evaluate ergonomic interventions in the nursing home industry.
3. OHSAH: The Occupational Health & Safety Agency for Healthcare in British Columbia
www.ohsah.bc.ca
This non-profit agency is dedicated exclusively to the health and safety of health care workers. Its Web site includes excellent materials on patient handling issues and ergonomics.
4. OSHA
www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/index.html
The Web site for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration contains materials related to nursing home hazards and ergonomics in health care.
5. NIOSH
www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ergonomics/
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has produced dozens of excellent reports, health hazard evaluations, research digests and fact sheets about ergonomics.
6. New York State Public Employees Federation
www.pef.org/healthandsafety/files/patienthandlingsolutions.pdf
The New York State Public Employees Federation publishes an equipment directory of patient handling equipment as a resource guide to facility-based ergonomics committees. This comprehensive directory contains toll-free numbers and brief descriptions of state-of-the-art lifting devices, lateral transfer equipment and other useful tools.
7. Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine
www.ErgonomicsInHealthcare.org
This Web page is dedicated entirely to ergonomics in health care.
8. WING-USA: Work Injured Nurses Group
www.wingusa.org
This site includes links to legislative and other news about preventing ergonomic injuries among nursing personnel.
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