Healthcare Heroes: Preventing Patient – Handling Injuries & Violence Fatality File

Employee Suffers Back Injury While Moving Patient

An employee, a registered nurse with the outpatient surgery office, was one of two nurses moving a patient in a gurney from the operating suite to a recovery room. As the nurses left Operating Room Number 3, the hallway required a right angle turn to the left. The employee, at the head of the bed, was steering the gurney, and being short was steering at about shoulder height instead of at her center of gravity at waist height. To make the turn, she tried to use her back to muscle the bed around the corner instead of shifting her position to the side. She suffered a low back strain. The employee was taken to Long Beach Memorial Hospital’s Occupational Medical Services for rest and observation for two hours. She was released without admission and returned to work the next day.

Source: https://www.osha.gov