Patient-Lifting Devices Donated to Nursing Lab

Student Suzie Oeur, right, demonstrates the new patient lift system. Asst. Prof. Miki Patterson, Lab Director Joanne Dupuis and student Sarah Keeler look on.

Back pain caused by transferring patients is the leading reason that nurses leave the profession prematurely. Improper handling can also injure and distress patients.

With the help of $15,000 of donated equipment from Guldmann, Inc., UMass Lowell nursing students will learn safe patient handling, right from the start of their careers. The company has provided a ceiling hoist system that serves two hospital beds and a mobile lifter for alternative lifting needs.

“The new equipment will be essential in the educational preparation of safe patient handling for the nursing students,” says Prof. Karen Devereaux Melillo, chair of the Nursing Department. 

The devices installed in the Nursing Simulation and Skills Laboratory in the School of Health and Environment (SHE) are part of an effort to keep the lab up to date with state-of-the-art equipment to prepare students for the real world.  Last year, the lab received grants for adult and baby patient simulators that mimic realistic clinical scenarios.

“We’re very appreciative of this donation so that our nursing students learn that technologies exist to prevent injuries to themselves and patients when moves, lifts and transfers are involved in patient care,” says Joanne C. Dupuis, director of Nursing Simulation and Skills Labs, who is responsible for training faculty and students on how to use the lifting systems.  “An injury on the job for nurses could mean the end of a career.”

Within the School of Health and Environment, a major research study on the caregiver use of patient lift devices in nursing homes is being conducted by the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace. Funded for five years by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the study is investigating the effectiveness of various interventions to encourage use of lift devices and reduce caregiver pain and injury.

“Training our nursing students on safe lifting reflects the rigorous and comprehensive education in our nursing department, as well as our unique approach of combining work environment with health,” says Shortie McKinney, dean of the School of Health and Environment.

-Karen Angelo

Guldmann trainer Patty Mechan, Asst. Prof. Miki Patterson, Nursing Chair Karen Devereaux Melillo, Asst. Prof. Lisa Abdallah, Joanne Dupuis, student Sarah Keeler, Dean Shortie McKinney, and student Suzie Oeur, seated. Students will be trained on how to use the new patient lift systems to prevent injuries once they are on the job.