Certified Patient Safety Specialist (CPSS)

One major source of injury to healthcare workers is musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). In 2010, nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants had the highest rates of MSDs, with 27,020 cases, equating to an incidence rate (IR) of 249 per 10,000 workers—more than seven times the average for all industries. For comparison, the all-worker days-away-from-work rate was 34 per 10,000 workers, the rate for construction laborers was 85.0, and for laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, the IR was 154.9—still far lower than that of nursing aides and orderlies. In 2010, the average incidence rate for MSD cases with days away from work increased 4 percent, while the MSD incidence rate for nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants increased 10 percent.

These injuries are largely due to overexertion related to repeated manual patient handling activities, often involving heavy lifting associated with transferring and repositioning patients and working in extremely awkward postures. High-risk patient handling tasks include transferring from the toilet to a chair, transferring from a chair to a bed, transferring from a bathtub to a chair, repositioning from side to side in bed, lifting a patient in bed, repositioning a patient in a chair, or making a bed with a patient in it.