While being a nurse can be rewarding in that you get to provide care to those in need, it can also be physically grueling. In your position, you have to lift and maneuver patients, bend down and reach up high to grab medical supplies and electrical cords, carry heavy medical equipment, and sometimes even physically restrain patients. In fact, the government says that hospital workers suffer musculoskeletal disorders at a rate higher than those who work in other private sectors.
There are a whole host of physical demands in the hospital setting that can be taxing on your body, leaving you with workplace injuries that make it impossible for you to carry out your work duties. One of the most common injuries suffered by nurses in the hospital setting are back injuries. But are hospitals to blame for them?
How hospitals can help reduce workplace back injuries
The risk of back injury comes with the job to a certain extent, since you’re often forced to lift heavy objects while in an awkward position. Yet, there are steps that hospitals can take to try to reduce the frequency with which these injuries are suffered. This includes doing the following:
- Implementing new techniques for lifting: Many nursing schools and hospitals are still under the false assumption that merely teaching nurses how to manually lift patients and other heavy equipment is sufficient to avoid injuries. In reality, though, ongoing training and the use of mechanical lifting equipment is often necessary to prevent injury or reduce its risk.
- Educating patients: Many patients are afraid to use mechanical lifting equipment. But the reality is that this equipment can help reduce the risk of patient falls. By using lifting equipment, patients are also less likely to suffer bruising and torn skin. By educating patients about lifting equipment, they may choose this option. As a result, nurses will avoid heaving lifting more often, thereby sparing their backs.
- Providing ongoing training: Safe lifting practices aren’t always intuitive, even for the most experienced nurses. That’s why hospitals need to a do a better job of educating and training their staff about safe lifting practices on an ongoing basis. By doing so, they may be able to reduce the frequency of back injuries and spur conversations that lead to new ideas for injury prevention.
- Modifying policies: A hospital’s written policies provide guidance to workers so that they understand operational best practices. If those policies are silent on how lifting heavy items should occur or how mechanical lifting equipment should be utilized, then nurses can be left confused and uninformed. This puts them at risk of lifting in unsafe ways, thereby increasing the chances that they’ll suffer a back injury.
What should you do if you’ve suffered a back injury while on the job?
If you’re a nurse who has been injured on the job, then you should consider filing a workers’ compensation claim. If you’re successful here, then you can recover compensation to help offset your lost wages and your medical expenses while you focus on your recovery and returning to work.
Although pursuing a workers’ compensation claim can be challenging, it doesn’t require that you show that your employer was to blame for your injuries. Your claim will likely be challenged if you had a pre-existing condition or if you were engaged in horseplay when the injury was suffered, but otherwise your injury has a high likelihood of being compensable. So, if you’ve been hurt at work, now is the time to consider your legal options so that you can act on those that make the most sense for you under your set of circumstances.