ANA Hosts Congressional Briefing
The American Nurses Association (ANA) and the Congressional Nursing Caucus cosponsored a Congressional luncheon briefing on Tuesday, May 8th to highlight the importance of safe patient handling and movement. The briefing, held during National Nurses Week, was designed to educate Congressional staff and health care representatives about the dangers of manual patient lifting and repositioning.

Briefing Speakers:

Representative Lois Capps, RN (D-CA), pictured here, welcomed the crowded room of more than 60 attendees. Rep. Capps explained the history of National Nurses Week and the Congressional Nursing Caucus. She also highlighted the need to promote safe patient lifting programs as a means to address the nursing shortage.

Rose Gonzalez, MPS, RN, Director of ANA's Department of Government Affairs moderated the briefing, which featured a panel of expert speakers including:

• James Collins, PhD, MSME: Captain in the U.S. Public Health Service and Associate Director for Science for the Division of Safety Research (DSR), with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). See Dr. Collins presentation
  
• Kenneth Harwood, PT, PhD, CIE: Director, Practice Department for the American Physical Therapy Association. See Dr. Harwood's presentation
  
• Barbara Silverstein, MSN, PhD, MPH, CPE: Research Director of the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries' Safety and Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP) Program. See Dr. Silverstein's presentation

Safe Patient Handling and Movement (SPHM):

Nurses have long suffered from disabling back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders that result primarily from lifting, transferring, and repositioning patients by using manual techniques. Speakers at the briefing discussed the scientific basis behind the SPHM program and how it can decrease injuries and health care costs while increasing the quality of patient care.

The extent of musculoskeletal disorders among the U.S. nursing workforce is particularly distressing when considered in the context of the current nursing shortage. Estimates report that 12 percent of nurses leave the profession annually due to back injuries and greater than 52 percent complain of chronic back pain. Specifically, injuries secondary to patient handling tasks compound factors driving the shortage such as aging of the nursing workforce, declining retention and recruitment rates, and lowering social value of nursing.

Over the past decade, much attention has been given to the health and safety concern among health care workers. Despite the recognition that manual patient handling is a high-hazard task, the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders persists at high rates for nurses and other health care personnel - signaling the need for continued action. Emerging efforts to prevent musculoskeletal injuries have concentrated on reducing injuries through the use of assistive equipment and devices for patient handling. Many studies have shown that this equipment pays for itself through lower worker compensation claims and decreased health care worker absenteeism.

As part of the ANA's Nationwide State Legislative Agenda, ANA and the State Nurses Associations are promoting legislation that would require hospitals and other health care institutions to develop programs to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders and eliminate manual patient handling. To date, six states (MD, OH, TX, NY, RI, WA) have passed legislation urging the use of non-manual patient lifting and repositioning. ANA is currently working to introduce similar legislation in the U.S. Congress.
Erin McKeon