Nurses' attitudes to and use of patient hoists in hospital

Abstract

A questionnaire on patient hoists was circulated to all 220 qualified nurses working in a geriatric department. A survey of the provision and state of repair of the hoists was carried out on the unit. Despite being aware of the value of hoists, 41 % of the 134 nurses who responded to the questionnaire never or rarely used them. An important reason for this was inadequate instruction in hoist use, 65% of nurses feeling that their instruction had been inadequate. Instruction in hoist use had rarely been given by occupational therapists or physiotherapists. Thirty-five per cent of nurses were unaware of any of the basic safety factors in hoist operation. Those who considered their instruction to have been inadequate were more likely to have unfavourable impressions of hoists (p < 0.01) and more likely to be unaware of safety factors (p < 0.01). There was a nonsignficant trend to a greater prevalence of previous back injury in nurses who never or rarely used hoists. The hoists themselves were generally in reasonable working order, although minor faults were found in 60% of the 22 hoists surveyed. They were generally used (with rigid seats) as bath hoists only, and the provision of appropriate slings might greatly increase their usefulness at minimal extra expense.