According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ( NIOSH), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), healthcare workers experience high rates of musculoskeletal injuries related to lifting and moving patients. Additionally, unintentional harm may result when caring for mental health patients and other patients who are confused, combative, or chemically altered.
Turn the Tide on Healthcare Worker Injuries
Healthcare workers with caregiver injuries have the potential to increase your direct costs (for example, wages, medical expenses, and policy premiums) as well as your indirect costs (overtime costs, temporary labor, and loss production). You can reduce workforce disruption and improve your bottom line by promoting routine patient and environment assessments and training your workers to manage lifting and behavioral situations appropriately. Our Beacon Mutual team will help you with risk identification, your safe patient handling and movement policies, safety training, and more!
Beacon's Caregiver Program
Beacon's Caregiver Program comprises two components - the Caregiver Training Program and the Caregiver Safety Series.
The Caregiver Training Program
For over 20 years, Beacon has been delivering innovative, industry specific worker training programs that specifically address the needs of caregivers. Our Caregiver Training Program contains two modules: Body Mechanics and Self-Protection. A Beacon Mutual representative will offer these safe patient handling and behavioral health modules together or separately, according to your preference. Each in-person module involves a combination of lecture, demonstration, and hands-on skills practice. The time for each module varies between 30-60 minutes, depending on the level of hands-on practice desired for each caregiver.
Our 60-minute webinar, Safe Patient Handling & Movement, will be held on 7/22 from 10:00 -11:00 am. This webinar will address common challenges associated with the movement of patients who are in traditional health care settings and home-based locations. This presentation is loaded with photos of movement techniques that will promote patient participation while improving comfort, efficiency, and safety for both employees and patients.
The Caregiver Safety Series
To assist healthcare workers with the prevention of injuries, we have developed a series of resources designed to address common issues related to body mechanics, patient movement, and self protection. The Caregiver Program includes helpful guides as part of the Caregiver Safety Series, which can be found under “healthcare” in our Safety Library. You can download any of the guides, listed below, and email them to workers or use them as payroll stuffers, posters, safety huddle talking points, or as reference materials following the training.
Body Mechanics Caregiver Guides
These guides are designed to provide ergonomic recommendations for movement in the healthcare setting:
- Working with Computers
- Gait/Transfer Belt
- Lying to Sitting
- Power Lift
- Tripod Lift
- Golfer’s Lift
- Staggered Stance
Patient Movement
These guides are designed to help prevent caregiver injuries while moving patients:
Self-Protection Caregiver Guides
These guides are designed to provide techniques to caregivers for self protection when working with patients:
- Bite Release
- Short Hair Grab
- Long Hair Grab
- Single Wrist Hold
- Thumb & Finger Release
- Two Hand Wrist Hold
Beacon's Safety Services
Ergonomics and other safety services are free to our policyholders and clients.
If you are interested in Caregiver Training for your workplace, we encourage you to download the Caregiver Training Overview and to contact the Safety Team. To learn more about on-site training, safety program development, assessments, and more, visit Safety Services.
