| Abstract: | As the number of manual handling injuries in carers and nurses continues to be very high, the problem of how to prevent injury has not been solved. Despite the obvious need for optimum working environments, the literature does not really support that an ergonomics or systems approach solves the injury problem. Similarly, the evidence for training as a preventive strategy is equivocal, although clearly people handling requires trained handlers for both their own and the patient's safety. This research aimed to evaluate the outcomes of training in a method of manual handling of people, Dotte's Manutention method, which claims to decrease back strain and effort in carers. The study evaluated handling techniques and injury outcomes of a group of nurses in a nursing home trained in this method, using two other homes as comparisons. The study hypothesized that training in the Manutention method would decrease back strain and resultant back injuries in nurses working in geriatric care. The results showed a clear pattern of declining incidence of nurses' back pain for the nurses trained in Manutention and increasing incidence in the other two homes. These findings approached significance with a probability of < 0.1. Of those respondents who indicated a decrease in pain during the twelve month research period, all attributed it to their training. Ninety four percent of respondents who received training agreed it made their manual handling job easier. The observation method used was not sensitive enough to evaluate the multiple movements involved in a patient transfer. A supplementary controlled study was performed using videotaping and the Ovako Working Assessment System (OWAS). Manutention lifts were rated significantly better than non-Manutention on the critical variable of working posture (p < 0.01) and observed effort (p < 0.05). Accident statistics on patient handling did not show decreased injury rates at twelve months. The difficulties of controlling variables in the workplace and of the measurement of complex handling tasks were limitations of this study. |
