Ideas That Work: Air-Assisted Lateral Transfer

To help reduce injuries, we decided that our nurses didn't have to do all the heavy lifting. We instituted a safe patient handling and movement program that uses an air-assisted lateral transfer device.

Traditionally, if a patient weighed 200 pounds or more, we'd use an air-assisted lateral transfer device. But we instituted a 157-pound weight trigger for using the air-assisted device and a 35-pound limit on lifting anything above one's head without assistance.

Deborah Totzkay, DNP, RN, ACNP-BC, CNOR
Michigan Medicine
Ann Arbor, Mich.
[email protected]