Critical care nursing clinics of North America
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Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am · Jun 2007
ReviewJustification for a minimal lift program in critical care.
This chapter reviews literature pertaining to patient-handling tasks spanning the areas of epidemiology, biomechanics, perceived stresses, education and training programs, and introduction of mechanical patient lifting devices. All findings agree that patient handling is inherently dangerous and has been attributed to the majority of injuries incurred by nursing personnel; however, most studies have been performed in hospitals or long term care settings, but have not been specific to the area of critical care. The critical care environment poses unique challenges for nursing personnel and therefore, to ergonomists.
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Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am · Jun 2007
ReviewWorkload and patient safety among critical care nurses.
Several dimensions of workload experienced by nurses working in ICUs are described in this article, including the physical workload related to patient handling. The effects of workload on various outcomes, such as the health, safety, and quality of working life of nurses, and the safety of care provided by ICU nurses are discussed. A systemic approach to the assessment of workload is proposed that is aimed at identifying the work system factors that contribute to the different facets of workload and the interdependencies among the various dimensions of workload.