The effect of hours of training and the use of transfer techniques on the disability from back pain in care givers employed in geriatric facilities

Date

1998-12

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Texas Tech University

Abstract

An investigation into the effects of hours of training in patient transfers and number of methods used for patient transfers on the disability from back pain was conducted, with 164 professional nursing and physical therapy personnel. These care givers were employed in 21 geriatric facilities in West Texas ranging in size from 52 to 322 beds. Each participant completed a two-part questionnaire Part 1 requested information about the number of hours of training given and received in patient transfers, the number of methods used for transfers in the current facility, the percentage of time the correct technique is used, reasons for not using the correct technique and normal workload. Part 2 was the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire. The results of this study found that hours of training and number of methods had no effect on the disability from back pain in these care givers. A very low level of back pain and disability was reported in these care givers possibly due to the time specific nature of the disability questionnaire. Almost 75% of the participants reported using the correct technique at least 75% of the time. An area for further research is repeating the study with a modified instrument. These modifications include adding questions which would test the knowledge of correct patient handling techniques and changing the disability scale to one which encourages those with intermittent back pain to complete the questionnaire.

Description

Keywords

Caregivers -- Diseases, Backache, Lifting and carrying -- Safety measures

Citation