Manual Patient Handling Hazards and Risk Control Strategies

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Nursing assignment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
1. After the total hip replacement surgery of Mrs. Smith, it is important to look for the
potential hazards associated with movement or range of motion in the joint. As the
patient is obese, this acts as crucial contributor to early dislocation due to mal-positioning
while moving the patient from bed to chair. Therefore, there are high chances of
dislocation in the scenario while moving the obese patient.
2. In the scenario, client-related risk factors include fracture and dislocation. During the first
few days following total hip replacement therapy, certain positions can make the new
joint ball dislocate while moving her from bed to chair. Moreover, the size of patient
(obese), difficulty in positioning can cause significant injury or fatigue being risk factors
for Mrs. Smith (Rajgopal et al., 2013).
3. Management of health and safety at the healthcare organizations greatly demonstrate
governance. The Health and Safety Administration (OSHO) is responsible for assessing
and minimizing risk. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carries out hazard
identification, risk assessment, record of findings and review of risk assessment. In this
scenario, HSE would help in identifying the hazard under the OSHA (Steege, Boiano &
Sweeney, 2014).
4. The Work Health and Safety provide policy directives and procedures that clarify roles
and responsibilities of authorities contributing to safe work practices and risk
minimization. The policy supports occupational health and workplace safety through
injury prevention, hazard identification and reporting and safety planning. Safe Patient
Handling Policy under Australia Nursing and Midwifery Federation provide safer
approaches to client handling as manual lifting is involved in the scenario (Mayeda‐
Letourneau, 2014).

2NURSING ASSIGNMENT
5. The manual handling hazard associated with this scenario is the potential dislocation post
hip replacement as well as risk associated with back injury while handling the patient.
The traditional lift only procedure of obese patient post total hip replacement can cause
dislocation of the new hip where there is a risk of ball forced to come out of the socket.
6. To reduce manual patient handling risk, patient mobility promotion is a risk control
strategy. This can be helpful in reducing staff injury and improving mobility of the
patient between the carers. There should be good communication between the two carers
where the words of command should be clarified. The staffs should be trained in the
handling procedure using mechanical aids and equipments during lifting and transferring
the patient (Olkowski & Stolfi, 2014).
7. After considering Mrs. Smith medical condition, there is need for inflatable lifting aid or
stretcher hoist. This can be helpful in lifting the patient from bed to wheelchair. A
deflated cushion that is placed under the patient attached to a motor for inflating the
cushion to the waist height can be helpful in transferring Mrs. Smith from bed to
wheelchair through lateral transfer device.
8. Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Safe Work Australia outlines the issues involved in
manual patient handling of patients. The hazard identified is dislocation that can happen
due to awkward posture, sustained force or repetitive movement post hip replacement
surgery (Sinelnikov, Inouye & Kerper, 2015). There is failure in well-designed work
procedure and area, ergonomically designed equipment and tools associated with WHS in
manual patient handling task.
9. Workplace safety meetings are important as it allow employees to raise health or safety
concerns along with improvement ideas to the supervisors. Unsafe conditions result in