Many nursing activities have a common problem: They are carried out in a posture being bent over forward. This strain often manifests itself in damage due to overload, such as back and neck problems. These are caused by a combination of poor working postures and movements, incorrect use of aids, patient condition and other working conditions.
In our series „Ergonomic work in nursing professions“ we give tips and instructions for the ergonomic execution of daily care operations. After having dealt with different methods of resident repositioning over the past few weeks, today we are talking about transfer to active or soft mattresses:
Preparation of the resident
• Both the resident’s legs are positioned
• A sliding sheet lies under the pelvis and shoulders
• The resident’s view is towards his navel
Preparation for nursing staff
• Both nursing staffs stand at the head end of the bed and stand offset to each other
• The feet point in the direction of the foot end
• The arm closest to the bed reaches under the resident’s chest
• The other hand grips the sliding sheet as close to the resident’s pelvis as possible
Repositioning the resident
• The body weight is slowly shifted diagonally backwards
Here are all the steps in a video:
