Generally, the nurses want to pull up a patient with the help of a colleague or alone, rather than taking the five minutes it takes to get the machine down, hook on the straps and lift the patient up.

"Basically, yes, it is faster to just grab another nurse and pull a patient up. This is what we've done for years," Kristeller says.


But even these slight exertions cause problems. Nurses slowly and steadily damage their backs, developing micro-tears after repeated liftings, Kristeller says.

"The one pulling up in bed, something you've done thousands of times . . . that could be the one time you damage your back permanently, and you're now unable to work as a nurse."

"It's very hard to break old habits," she admits. "And nurses like to do things quickly and move on quickly."

She estimates it takes a good six months to a year before trainers are able to "iron out" all the resistance.

"They don't think of themselves," Kristeller muses. "They don't think, 'I'm going to hurt myself.' They're always thinking about the patient."

But Hughes hopes, in the end, a new generation of nurses won't accept a dangerous workplace. "I shouldn't expect to come to work and hurt myself," she says.

Back to HCB News

More Industry Headlines