Effect of transfer, lifting, and repositioning (TLR) injury prevention program on musculoskeletal injury among direct care workers.

Musculoskeletal injuries among health care workers is very high, particularly so in direct care workers involved in patient handling. Efforts to reduce injuries have shown mixed results, and strong evidence for intervention effectiveness is lacking. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a Transfer, Lifting and Repositioning (TLR) program to reduce musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) among direct health care workers. This study was a pre- and post-intervention design, utilizing a nonrandomized control group. Data were collected from the intervention group (3 hospitals; 411 injury cases) and the control group (3 hospitals; 355 injury cases) for periods 1 year pre- and post-intervention. Poisson regression analyses were performed. Of a total 766 TLR injury cases, the majority of injured workers were nurses, mainly with back, neck, and shoulder body parts injured. Analysis of all injuries and time-loss rates (number of injuries/100 full-time employees), rate ratios, and rate differences showed significant differences between the intervention and control groups. All-injuries rates for the intervention group dropped from 14.7 pre-intervention to 8.1 post-intervention. The control group dropped from 9.3 to 8.4. Time-loss injury rates decreased from 5.3 to 2.5 in the intervention group and increased in the control group (5.9 to 6.5). Controlling for group and hospital size, the relative rate of all-injuries and time-loss injuries for the pre- to post-period decreased by 30% (RR = 0.693; 95% CI = 0.60-0.80) and 18.6% (RR = 0.814; 95% CI = 0.677-0.955), respectively. The study provides evidence for the effectiveness of a multifactor TLR program for direct care health workers, especially in small hospitals.

Evaluating repeated patient handling injuries following the implementation of a multi-factor ergonomic intervention program among health care workers.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate repeated patient handling injuries following a multi-factor ergonomic intervention program among health care workers. METHODS: This was a quasi-experimental study which had an intervention group and a non-randomized control group. Data were collected from six hospitals in Saskatchewan, Canada from September 1, 2001 to December 1, 2006. RESULTS: A total of 1,480 individuals who had a previous injury were eligible for the study. Medium and small size hospitals in the intervention group had significantly fewer repeated injuries than in the control group. Multivariate analysis showed that the intervention group had 38.1% lower odds of having repeated injury compared to the control group, after adjusting for hospital size. CONCLUSIONS: The work-related repeated injury after a multi-factor intervention program was reduced. The synergistic relationships between components of multi-factor intervention and applicability of injury prevention programs to different settings need to be further explored. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Implementing a multi-factor program with the right equipment and training can lower the risk of injury among health care workers.