Wave: March / April 2010 - Winnipeg in motion

Think
Safety
Concordia Hospital health-care aide Darlene
Payette injured herself on the job. Now she
wants to make sure other health-care providers
learn from her experience.
By Susie Strachan
Darlene Payette always tried to be careful when
lifting a patient into a wheelchair.
Then one day the health-care aide at
Concordia Hospital was coming to the end
of a double-shift when a patient required
a lift. Darlene was transferring the patient
with another staff member when the patient
shifted. Suddenly, Darlene felt a sharp
pain in her back.
Unfortunately, injury on the job is not an
uncommon occurrence among health-care
providers. Every year, as many as 4,500
workers injure themselves, often by lifting
patients, moving them in bed or assuming
awkward postures when providing care.
Now, the Winnipeg Health Region is
working with the Workers Compensation
Board and Manitoba Health through
the SAFE Health Care program to raise
awareness and help reduce the number of
injuries on the job.
Payette says it’s important for health-care
workers to learn from her experience. She
says all health-care workers should know
their rights and responsibilities when it
comes to on-the-job safety.
It often comes down to many situations
in which one tries to do too much
without help. “I often was working two or
three shifts in a row. I might have to look
26 WAVE
after seven patients by myself and five of
those needed lifts. I knew these patients
all needed more assistance to move them
safely, but there wasn’t always someone
around to help,” says Payette, who works
in the subacute medical ward at Concordia,
which often cares for frail, geriatric
patients. “You get into a position where you
go ahead and try the transfer without help
or the proper equipment.
Not only does this put the patient in
danger of being hurt, it’s a bad practice that
puts the worker in danger of being injured.
Sprained wrists, twisted and strained back
muscles, and sore necks and shoulders
are some of the injuries that health-care
aides encounter when they try to get ahead
of their workload. “Many people think
they’ll get their work done faster. But we’re
dealing with patients, who may need two
people lifting them,” says Payette. “I’ve
caught people doing a two-person lift,
one that called for them to use either the
Sling Lift or the Sit-Stand Lift machine, by
themselves without equipment, just to save
a few moments. That’s a very unsafe way to
do a transfer.”
Payette says health-care providers need
to slow down and follow the rules. Each
patient’s chart should have a logo on it,
which describes how the lifts should be
done and what equipment should be used.
This logo is the result of an assessment
done by a physiotherapist and nursing staff.
Health-care workers should not proceed
with a transfer if they are unsure how to
do it or do not have the right tools. They
need to be empowered to stop and make
sure they have all the proper information,
equipment and support to do the transfer
safely. Sadly, some health-care aides fail
to recognize their rights and duties in this
matter.
Another area of oversight occurs when
a health-care aide does get injured. Many
ignore the injury, and hope that putting ice
on the sore spot will help. Payette says the
fear of the paperwork involved in reporting
the injury is an obstacle for many. But it
is important to complete the injury report
immediately after injury to ensure the injured
worker has access to benefits such as
physiotherapy and salary coverage by the
Workers Compensation Board.
The SAFE Health Care program is designed
to help health-care workers protect