Providing elderly care for your family member or loved one can be very challenging on several levels. Mentally, it’s taxing. Financially, it can be a strain. Logistically, it can also be very difficult. But what about the physical strain and toll on the caregiver?
The physical aspects of caring for a loved one in a home environment can be demanding, but often are not given a lot of thought or planning. Yet for nurses, who we as caregivers often take the place of in home care, manual lifting and repositioning of patients accounted for their highest risk for injury. A study from the US Department of Labor found that healthcare workers suffer higher rates of injuries than both the construction and manufacturing industries. If this is still a major issue in the professional healthcare environment—where there are standards, protocols, and equipment to address these challenges, how can we possibly address it at home, where none of that is in place?
The good news is there are things we can do to address caregiver safety at home. In the healthcare environment, safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM) standards have been developed to ensure safety for both the healthcare worker and the patient, and to promote a safer work environment and a safer healing environment. Patients who do not receive care that includes correct positioning, lifting, and movement have a higher risk of developing pressure ulcers, skin tears, pneumonia, and organ atrophy. The standards and protocols developed for hospitals and professional staff address these risks. Piggybacking off of some of those standards can help us create a safer home environment for ourselves as caregivers, and will also result in fewer complications for our loved ones at home. While hospitals across the US are now required to follow newly developed standards to ensure a “culture of safety” for the patient and staff, why shouldn’t we aim for the same standards to be in place at home?
In the US, we have an aging population that has increased health conditions such as obesity. Some of these conditions present significant challenges to home care and place both caregivers and patients at higher risk of injury.
Many of the professional nursing injuries that occur are from repeated side lifting movements (manually repositioning/sliding/pulling a patient up in bed). This type of side listing motion creates a shearing force on the spine that can result over time in what are called micro tears, which weaken the spine, damage discs, damage shoulders, and make one more prone to more acute injury. Therefore, we must try to reduce the need for caregivers to perform this type of lifting at home.
A caregiver typically ends up performing tasks that increase risk for caregiver injury: lifting heavy things, heavy turning, pushing/pulling, repeated lifting and moving of equipment, doing transfers on uneven surfaces (from chair to bed, bed to toilet, bed to stretcher, etc.), and awkward positioning. All of these aspects of physical care lead to damage and injury such as micro tears. Additionally, space limitations due to equipment in small spaces can cause tripping and falling hazards. Caregivers need to learn how to avoid these risk factors to ensure both their own personal safety and that of their loved one.
As caregivers we also sometimes must manage loved ones who are fearful, angry or depressed at times, all of which lead to increased risk of injury.
To reduce caregiver injury risk, the caregiver must learn about proper lifting techniques and proper body placement when lifting or transferring a loved one. A caregiver also needs to learn to handle the challenging situations mentioned above, and also assess and remove certain environmental risks in the home.
Our spine is where most of our movement is generated, and in being used constantly, it is vulnerable to cumulative injuries from repetitive lifting. The most important aspect of preventing shoulder, neck, and back injuries is learning a proper lifting technique. To reduce injury risk, caregivers should aim for the following ergonomic goals when lifting and transferring patients:
Injury risk can also be decreased with use of equipment such as patient lifts, grab bars, toilet seat risers, and adjustable shower benches and bath chairs.
Injury risk can also be decreased with planning. This includes overall planning and training on proper methods of positioning and lifting. It also includes daily planning of activities ahead of time to reduce the number of transfers and lifting.
Beyond muscle, neck, and back injuries, other risk factors to caregiver injury include exposure to sickness and to contagious Each Visiting Angels agency is a franchise that is independently owned and operated. The Franchisor, Living Assistance Services Inc., does not control or manage the day to day business operations of any Visiting Angels franchised agency.
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We wanted to send a heartfelt Thank You to the wonderful people who supported us through the care and passing of Kenneth K. Your kindness, thoughtfulness and professionalism helped carry us through a difficult time. Your compassion, tenderness and the respect you showed to Ken is above and beyond measure. We are forever grateful for each of you, for every person, in every part, of Ken's care.