On June 17th, 2005, then Governor Rick Perry signed into Law Senate Bill 1525, making Texas the first state to require hospitals and nursing homes to implement patient handling and movement programs. This law required establishments to develop methods of controlling the risk of injury to patients and nurses associated with lifting, transferring, repositioning and movement of patients.
Manual lifting can cause needless suffering and injury to patients and nurses. Hospitals and other establishments that care for older adults were experiencing several injury claims and having to pay costly workers compensation to injured patients and nurses. Studies on the results of the use of safe, secure, mechanical lift equipment for patient maneuvering tasks could eliminate such needless injuries and proved that injuries to patients and nursing staff back injury is preventable. This leads to substantial savings for employers on medical and compensation costs.
The National Council on Aging reports that 1 in 4 Americans over the age of 65 falls each year. Every 11 seconds an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall, making it the leading cause of fatal injury among elderly individuals. When someone in this age bracket does fall, it is important to safely and securely help them back to their feet. Even with two people trying to lift an adult from the ground, it is very difficult and often causes the care taker to become injured while trying to lift the patient or loved one.
OSHA reports that the use of mechanical lifting equipment is essential to a successful safe patient handling program and has been shown to reduce exposure to manual lifting injuries by up to 95%. Currently 11 states now have enacted this law. The benefits that hospitals are experiencing in these safe patient handling states are reduced worker compensation claims, higher patient satisfaction scores, and happier staff and patients. These same results were reported from home health agencies and hospices.
The Raizer Lift Chair is a mobile lifting chair that helps people who find themselves on the floor to be up again in just a few minutes. Raizer can be operated by a single assistant and requires very limited physical effort beyond the help of a supportive hand. The Raizer is perfect for hospitals, home health care companies, EMS workers, nursing homes, and in personal homes.
For more information on how this chair can help you meet the standards of the state law for patient handling and patient lifting, call us at 281-657-5006, or visit us at our website rescuelift.com.