New Heights in Patient CareBWH Nurse - For and about the Nursing Staff of Brigham and Women's HospitalNew Heights in Patient CareBWH Nurse - For and about the Nursing Staff of Brigham and Women's Hospital

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New Heights in Patient Care

When Terry Lucci, an RN in the Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit on 8D, wanted to get a patient out of bed, she had two choices: do it herself and risk straining her back or schedule the very-busy lift team from Patient Transport.

But now, Lucci and all the nurses on Tower 8CD can lift, boost and reposition patients on their own thanks to 20 new ceiling lifts installed above each bed in the two pods, a move expected to reduce patient-lift related injuries significantly. Four ceiling lifts were installed in Bariatric Surgery, as well.

“This was a relatively simple measure to protect staff against injury,” said Marlene Freeley, director, Occupational Health Services, RN, MS, who explained the type of nursing care required for cardiac ICU patients typically presents more of a potential for injury. “We were losing many very skilled and experienced nurses due to the injuries, and several were unable to return to bedside care,” she said.

Occupational Health Services brought in Partners HealthCare Ergonomics Specialist Tucker Echlin O'Day, MSPT, to study the issue. “Nursing in general is in the top 10 occupations most at risk for work-related injuries,” she said. “Because patient movements can be unpredictable and because patients often weigh more than 100 pounds, they are very challenging to handle manually.”

Michael J. Ferchak, RN, NIC on 8C, called these ceiling lifts “the wave of the future.” They are common in European hospitals and rehabilitation centers, like Partners' Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, but BWH is among the first acute-care hospitals on the East Coast to install them in an ICU.

The new lifts provide ease for 8 CD nurses to perform a post-op chest X-rays, boost or reposition patients, and move a patient back and forth from bed to chair without help from another nurse or the lift team. “It increases our productivity,” Ferchak said.

While the lifts are sure to cut down on nurse injuries and make their lives easier, patients are benefiting also. Sarah Thompson, RN, Cardiac Surgery nurse manager said, “The lifts are working wonders for getting cardiac patients moving and ambulatory after surgery.”