Injury caused by lifting

a study of the nurse's viewpoint

Love, Christine RGN, ONC, DipN(Lond), CertEd, BEd(Hons), MSc

Date of acceptance: June 20 1996.
Christine Love RGN, ONC, DipN(Lond), CertEd, BEd(Hons), MSc, is Nurse Tutor, Bloombury and Islington College of Nursing and Midwifery, London.
This article has been subject to double-blind review.

Nursing Standard 10(46):p 34-39, August 7, 1996.

This article reports the findings of a questionnaire survey of work-injured nurses. Thirty nurses reported back injury caused by lifting and nine causative factors were identified in significantly more than 20 per cent of accidents. The threshold of reported weight at which accidents began to happen was 50.9kg. Nurses were found to be particularly at risk when mobilising patients because walking accidents are not preventable by using non-lifting techniques. The findings suggest that nurses should be equipped with the appropriate levels of expertise in assisting patients with mobilising.