June 2023 ASPHP Newsletter

Lynda Enos, RN, MS, COHN-S, CPE

Over 3 decades of global research and published injury data have demonstrated that manually lifting and assisting patients who have limited mobility puts both health care workers (HCWs) and patients at high risk of injury. 

Despite the evidence, most health care education programs in the United States (U.S.) do not teach safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM) as a core curriculum element. Many schools continue to rely on teaching outdated and disproven evidence that ‘proper body mechanics can prevent injuries when manually handling patients.

As a result, new graduates of Nursing, Physical and Occupational Therapy, Radiology, Medicine, and other health care professional programs are not prepared to safely assist patients who cannot move on their own, thus, placing themselves and their patients at unacceptable risk for harm.

The impact of “unsafe” patient assistance is continued high incidence of HCW injuries and an epidemic of patient immobility that results in both short- and long-term harms and functional decline.

These injuries carry a high cost to the HCWs who are often forced to change their practice setting, careers, or leave the workforce due to injury. Health care facilities are affected by high workers’ compensation costs and difficulty hiring and retaining an adequate workforce to care for their patients.

Without exposure to SPHM techniques and training, students are also at greater risk for injury during their clinical internships. Some are injured before they even graduate. 

Health care workers and students have the right to be protected from musculoskeletal injuries just as they are offered personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent transmission of infectious pathogens. 

There is growing global recognition that healthy and safe HCWs are more likely to provide care that leads to optimized patient health and safety. However, despite extensive evidence on the benefits of SPHM programs, integration of SPHM into a culture of worker and patient safety has not been widely adopted in routine clinical practice across the health care continuum in the U.S. 

Health care education programs could and should play a critical role in driving this culture change in health care, equipping students with the knowledge and skills to ensure their health and safety and maximize the well-being of their patients. 

Equally, health care organizations with SPHM programs can assist to integrate SPHM in health care education programs through partnership activities that include providing SPHM education and training to students and faculty and reinforcing SPHM principles during clinical placements.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), together with the American Nurses Association (ANA) and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), have made an extensive effort to develop and disseminate evidence-based SPHM curriculum in schools of nursing throughout the U.S. However, few college-level nursing and allied health programs have integrated SPHM into standard curriculum.

To address this concern, ASPHP recently published a white paper ‘Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM) Education in Health Care Student Curriculum’.

The paper was developed by the SPHM Curriculum Task Force which is a subcommittee of the ASPHP Education Committee.

Based on an extensive literature review and input from faculty who teach nursing and therapy students, this paper discusses why SPHM is not widely integrated in health care student curriculum in the U.S. and proposes solutions to improve integration of SPHM into all health care student curricula.

The paper identifies:

• Why SPHM content is needed across all academic programs.

• Current state of SPHM education from the literature.

• Successful models of SPHM education published in the literature.

• Gaps/barriers to curriculum content adoption.

• Recommendations to better prepare students to practice safely and without injury to themselves or to their patients. 

• A foundation for development of recommended SPHM curriculum for all health care student education programs in the US.

Information in this paper can be used by schools for health care students, SPHM practitioners and health care organizations to help develop SPHM education materials.

It provides a concise primer on the science of SPHM and benefits to caregivers, patients, and health care organizations, current evidence about effective training methods, and real-world examples of successful integration of SPHM in schools of nursing and physical and occupational therapy.

A list of freely available SPHM education and pictorial resources that can be used in SPHM education is included.

The paper is a first step in meeting the task force objectives to facilitate integration of SPHM into health care student education programs in the U.S.

ASPHP will use the white paper to raise awareness about this critically important issue with health care education programs and their clinical health care partners and provide guidance about how and what SPHM content should be integrated into health care student curriculum.

If you have a passion to improve health care student education and safety, please volunteer and join the ASPHP SPHM Curriculum Task Force. Email us at info@asphp.org

Benefits for SPHM Education in Health Care Student Curriculum in the US