Advocating for Health Care Worker Safety Professional organizations continue their advocacy efforts for the health and well-being of the health care worker. Since 2003 the American Nurses Association (ANA) has supported policies related to safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM). SPHM includes the use of mechanical devices/lifts to aid patients in mobility and allow health care workers to help patients without putting strain on their bodies (ANA, 2015). According to Nelson and Baptiste (2004) nurses lift about 1.8 tons per an eight-hour shift.
The ANA launched the Handle with Care campaign in 2003 to raise awareness and promote change regarding the impact of back and musculoskeletal injuries in the health care worker. The Handle with Care campaign spurred action at the state level in 2006 when …show more content…
Congressman John Conyers, Jr. a Democrat from Michigan sponsored the bill with 16 cosponsors (Congress.gov, 2015). The bill highlighted strategies that every organization would have to put in place to protect nurses and health care workers from overexertion injuries. The bill would have amended title VXIII of the Medicare portion of the Social Security Act which would require hospitals that receive Medicare funding to have a SPHM program (Congress.gov, 2015). The bill required the development of a safe patient handling and mobility program which includes training for all health care workers on the SPHM program and equipment, posting notice of the standards, reporting all patient handling injuries, and unscheduled inspections to ensure compliance (Govtrack.us, 2015). After the reading of the bill it was sent to the House of Education and Workforce, the House of Energy and Commerce, and the House of Means and Ways (Govtrack.us, 2015). However the bill later died in the 113th Congress (Govtrack.us,
The ANA launched the Handle with Care campaign in 2003 to raise awareness and promote change regarding the impact of back and musculoskeletal injuries in the health care worker. The Handle with Care campaign spurred action at the state level in 2006 when …show more content…
Congressman John Conyers, Jr. a Democrat from Michigan sponsored the bill with 16 cosponsors (Congress.gov, 2015). The bill highlighted strategies that every organization would have to put in place to protect nurses and health care workers from overexertion injuries. The bill would have amended title VXIII of the Medicare portion of the Social Security Act which would require hospitals that receive Medicare funding to have a SPHM program (Congress.gov, 2015). The bill required the development of a safe patient handling and mobility program which includes training for all health care workers on the SPHM program and equipment, posting notice of the standards, reporting all patient handling injuries, and unscheduled inspections to ensure compliance (Govtrack.us, 2015). After the reading of the bill it was sent to the House of Education and Workforce, the House of Energy and Commerce, and the House of Means and Ways (Govtrack.us, 2015). However the bill later died in the 113th Congress (Govtrack.us,