Central – Safe Patient Handling

Safe Patient Handling
New York State’s Safe Patient Handling Law recognizes that lifting patients often can cause injury to both patients and health care workers and that safe patient handling programs can reduce the risk of injury, protect patient dignity, improve quality of care, increase consumer satisfaction and enhance caregiver morale. To serve those important objectives, the law provided for the Commissioner of Health, in consultation with the Commissioner of Labor, to convene a workgroup of stakeholders to issue a report identifying safe patient handling program best practices, providing examples of sample policies, and identifying resources and tools useful for providers to meet the goals of safe patient handling policies. The report was designed to inform the dissemination of information on safe patient handling by the Commissioner of Health to health care facilities, which are required to establish their own safe patient handling and committees and programs.

This training covers the Safe Patient Handling Act, body mechanics and lifting limits, anatomy of an injury, controlling risk factors, policy and committee creation and maintenance, changing the culture, and stakeholders. The curriculum can be customized to target specific SPH issues at and equipment training.