Bedside nursing is one of the most dangerous jobs there is.  Direct care nurses are injured at a higher rate than laborers, movers and truck drivers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Yet, some tasks performed by staff nurses are often more hazardous than they need to be.  One such task is lifting, moving and repositioning patients—who are increasingly heavier and more immobile.

Building on a call by the 2006 NLA to make federal safe patient handling legislation a priority, UAN and the Michigan Nurses Association have worked with Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) to develop a bill that will give direct care nurses the protection they need to safely treat and move patients without running the risk of debilitating musculoskeletal disorders.

Click here for more resources and tools on safe patient handling.

Read more about the Nurse and Patient Safety & Protection Act of 2007 (H.R. 378).

Read UAN’s press release on the safe patient handling bill.