Manual Patient Handling and Rehabilitation in Health Care Settings

Background
Many patients need help to move e.g. from bed to chair. Manual patient handling (MPH) is a complex and
common situation in health care settings all over the world. MPH tasks have been associated with injuries
among health care providers e.g. low back pain. This is the primary focus in the literature. The patient
perspective is secondary. In everyday rehabilitation focus also is on the support of function of the patient.
This is mostly tacit knowledge and not described in the literature. The ambition in everyday rehabilitation is
to stimulate the functional level where the patient participates in the MPH as an example. Across
professions and settings a common language, understanding and procedures for that everyday activity does
not exist.
Purpose
To professionalize the assistance given by the health care provider during MPH in rehabilitation of the
patient.
Methods:
MPH was systematically observed in a nursing home, a home care setting and three different hospital
departments in Denmark during day, evening and night. A protocol for observation was developed
according to theory from Shumway‐Cook and Woollacott regarding task, environment and individuals. The
protocol was filled out immediately after the MPH. In total 863 MPH´s were observed during 200 hours of
observation. The MPH´s were executed by the health care providers at the place.
Fieldnotes from the data collection consists of both qualitative and quantitative data and are analysed
according to the editing approach.
Supported Mobility Quadrant (SUMO Quadrant) was developed based on the analysed data.
Perspectives:
The model offers a common language for MPH to be used across professions, settings and situations. It is
useful for describing and categorizing manual patient handling tasks in rehabilitation and can be used with
an educational purpose health care providers.