Manual handling in elderly residential homes : an assessment of caregivers

Abstract

Care workers employed in elderly residential homes are at considerable risk of sustaining manual handling injuries. A substantial amount of information on manual handling, muscular skeletal disorders and care worker injuries has been available for over two decades and yet care workers are still suffering from injuries due to manual handling as indicated by the number of visits to physicians by care workers in elderly homes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate manual handling risks and injuries and other parameters such as general awareness, induction training, manual handling activities, availability of lifting equipment, and health effects of care workers. A cross sectional study of two governmental and two private elderly residences were selected providing a total of 104 respondents to a self administered questionnaire which supplied data for an analysis of the selected parameters. In addition responses showed a number of different types of handling methods and identified potential preventive measures. The study indicated that the leading causes of manual handling injuries amongst health care workers in elderly residential homes are: repeated manual handling activities, insufficient availability of handling equipment, lack of staff in relation to the dependency level of elderly residents, and further training required.