Long-term Care - Giving a Lift to an Injury-Prone Industry

By Betty Bogue
Prevent, Inc. 
 
ALREADY PLAGUED BY the country's third highest rate of occupational injuries, the long-term-care industry now faces a new challenge: complying with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's recently proposed ergonomic standards for U.S. workplaces. But a Hickory, N.C. based company started by a long-term-care nurse is meeting the challenge by helping nursing homes prevent the lift-and-transfer injuries that account for half of all employee injuries in the industry.

Betty Bogue, RN, BSN, developed the Get a Lift!® Program in 1996 after spending 10 years in the field, most recently as a risk manager for a North Carolina nursing home company. Bogue reasoned that by using mechanical lifts -instead of human muscle-to move patients, and by combining this with an intensive, consistent employee training program, nursing homes could drastically cut worker injuries. The Get a Lift!® program became the centerpiece of Bogue's company, Prevent, Inc., which has worked with about 145 nursing homes in 24 states.

Not unlike some healthcare equipment companies, Prevent, Inc. provides mechanical lifts for nursing homes, then maintains and repairs the equipment under contract. But what makes Prevent, Inc. stand out, Bogue says, is its program of comprehensive, ongoing employee training. When the company starts working with a new facility, a team of Prevent, Inc. staffers spend up to three days at the facility, educating nurses and nurses assistants on how to safely, effectively use the equipment. After the initial training and orientation, Prevent, Inc. staff return every six to eight weeks for a day of brush-up training. This sort of follow-up is crucial in the long-term-care industry. Bogue says, since turnover is high and new employees must constantly be trained."The difference between a lift vendor and Prevent is that our renewal and credibility is based on how well we reduce your injuries," Bogue says. "I don't sell lifts, I sell a service to get employees to use the lift."

At the first 123 facilities that implemented Prevent's program, the injury rate due to lifting and transferring patients was reduced 95 percent, and related costs dropped accordingly. White Oak Manor Inc. of Spartanburg, S.C. has implemented Get a Lift!® at its 14 facilities serving 1,900 residents. Since January 1998, it reported just five back-related injuries at all the facilities, reports Doug Cecil, executive vice president. Prior to implementing the program, he says White Oak would see about 35 injuries in the same time period. The company's employees are enthusiastic about the program, Cecil says. "When we mention the lifts, they ask why we didn't do it 20 years ago."  
 
*Reprint by permission of HealthLeaders 2002. Printed Name and Address: L. Ann Movalson, Editorial Director 210 12th Ave. S. Nashville, TN 37203 Date 4/10/02