In order to promote Safe Patient Handling solutions, the American Nurses Association (ANA) offers a website (http://anasafepatienthandling.org/default.aspx) as well as numerous programs aimed at education and facilitation.

The Safe Patient Handling website recognizes the numerous injuries nurses and other health care workers receive in the workplace and offers solutions. Many injuries come from improper patient transport when an employee attempts to move a patient without a mechanical lift or assistance from someone else.

Unfortunately, nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants incur nonfatal injuries at four times the rate of workers in other occupations, according to a 2006 report from the U.S. Department of Labor. As a result, the nursing field suffers from workers who are burned out and unhappy. Currently, a shortage of nurses means that injuries that keep employees from work endanger patient care and add to the workload of others, creating a bad situation for everyone involved.

Additionally, frequent injuries mean nurse turnover and early retirement. Nurses need a safe work environment so that they may care for their patients without risking injury to either themselves or someone else.

ANA created several programs to assist healthcare facilities and nursing staff with Safe Patient Handling. Some of these programs are:

ANA Handle with Care Recognition Program (http://www.nursingworld.org/handlewithcarerecognitionprogram).

This program, established in 2003, works to end manual patient handling in the health care setting by recognizing facilities which have invested in Safe Patient Handling programs.

ANA: Preventing Back Injuries: Safe Patient Handling and Movement (http://www.nursingworld.org/safepatienthandling/preventingbackinjuries)

This brochure offers Safe Patient Handling concepts and gives ways to create an injury prevention program. The brochure includes best practices for lifting patients, methods for choosing lifting devices, and ergonomic myths.

Safe Patient Handling and Movement Nursing School Curriculum Toolkit (http://www.nursingworld.org/safepatienthandling/schooltoolkit)

This toolkit, developed by ANA in conjunction with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Tampa Veterans Administration Patient Safety Center of Inquiry, contains information about Safe Patient Handling and includes a section on biomechanics for those times when manual patient handling must take place. The kit discusses the work environment and offers quizzes to cement learning.

Additional information about Safe Patient Handling is available at the ANA website (http://anasafepatienthandling.org/default.aspx).