LETTER SUBMISSION
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TO THE EDITORIn response to “Let’s help them stay in nursing!” by Pamela R. Cangelosi: Registered nurses have never left the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ top 10 list for work-related musculoskeletal injury. Of 126 occupations, nurse aides, orderlies and attendants are No. 1 and RN’s are No. 7, alongside truck drivers, nonconstruction laborers, janitors, assemblers and construction laborers. Combined, categories of health care workers consistently suffer more work-related injury than any other occupation in the country, primarily from manual patient lifting (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2004). Missing from many discussions on the nursing shortage and how to “help them stay in nursing” is termination of nurses by employers who do not provide safe patient-lift equipment and who fire nurses with back injuries when they are unable to continue lifting. Though the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 General Duty Clause states that all workplaces are to be “free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm,” there is lack of enforcement within health care related to patient lifting. There is a great disconnect between nurses being held in highest esteem, being identified as the most respected profession (Gallup) and being at the top for disabling injuries, most of which are preventable. We need nursing leaders who will work toward state and national “safe patient handling—no manual lift” legislation to halt hazardous manual lifting that leads to destruction of the bodies and careers of many nurses who want to stay in nursing. Serious musculoskeletal injuries from forced hazardous lifting that could be prevented with mechanical lift equipment cannot rightfully be attributed to “accidents.” Bringing a halt to the exploitation of nurses from disabling injuries created by lack of safety equipment would go a long way toward helping nurses stay in nursing. Anne Hudson, RN, BSN References Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2004, March). Retrieved December 16, 2006 from http://stats.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/osh/case/ostb1267.pdf The Gallup Poll. (2004, December 7). Nurses top list in honesty
and ethics poll. Retrieved December 16, 2006 from http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?CI=14236 |
