Use high-quality body mechanics:
Nurses should twist at their knees by using their legs and not their backs for lifting. Nurses can alsow use transfer boards or help from a second individual to transfer patients. Many doctors also suggest that nurses should keep patients or objects that they are lifting as close to their center of gravity as possible. They need to hold their back in an impartial posture, which conserves its natural curves. The key to maintaining an impartial spine when lifting or bending forward is to hinge or bend from the hip, but not from the back.
Nurses that maintain muscle strength, normal weight and flexibility are much less likely to get hurt according to many physical therapists. Most importantly, nurses should consult a physical therapist to know the correct body mechanics, good lifting process, and learn trunk firmness exercises that can help stop injuries.
Wear good shoes:
Walking on hard floors and prolonged standing puts pressure on your back. Comfortable shoes, good shock absorbers, could help take the pressure off drastically.
Advocate for good technology and training:
You should seek employers that provide the training and technology that is essential to diminish the danger of an injury while on the job. There are many advanced hospitals that are equipped with portable lifts, motorized ceiling lifts, transfer technology as well as several other advanced technologies, to ease the physical stress of nursing. If you are selecting a hospital that doesn't have the availability of technology as opposed to one that does, you might want to move with the one that does, as it means permanence in the profession. Many hospitals also have an injury prevention program as well as ergonomics specialists who assess a nurses' work environment.
Look for alternatives if in pain:
In most of the cases, nurses can switch settings or specialties to get rid of back pain. The greater part of the patients in pain are comatose and many are aerated, as well as incapable of help in turning at the bed or going from bed to the stretcher; this means you have to accurately lift their whole body weight. In the cath lab you are more liable than in a trauma to get assistance while positioning or turning patients. The less stressful atmosphere of cath lab also helps to avoid back injury. In trauma, there's a lot going on as you are called into react fast, and it can create a lot of stress on your body. Under such pain, one does not think about correct lifting techniques.
