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Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
Thu Feb 12, 2015, 05:22 AM Feb 2015

Even 'Proper' Technique Exposes Nurses' Spines To Dangerous Forces

Scientists say nurses like Sunny Vespico are prime examples of what nursing schools and hospitals are doing wrong: They keep teaching nursing employees how to lift and move patients in ways that could inadvertently result in career-ending back injuries.

Vespico, a registered nurse, was working the night shift in the intensive care unit at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia on March 31, 2012. At roughly 12:30 a.m., a large patient was having trouble breathing, so Vespico and a nursing assistant moved her to a special air bed designed for patients with respiratory problems.

"Immediately I felt a pop in my back and pain down my leg," Vespico says. "As a nurse, and understanding the mechanics of the body, I knew that there was something very wrong."

An MRI confirmed it: She had herniated one of her discs. And so began a saga of excruciating pain and months off from work.

http://www.npr.org/2015/02/11/383564180/even-proper-technique-exposes-nurses-spines-to-dangerous-forces?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150211

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Even 'Proper' Technique Exposes Nurses' Spines To Dangerous Forces (Original Post) Sherman A1 Feb 2015 OP
I'd recc more than once if I could. Erich Bloodaxe BSN Feb 2015 #1
Precisely Sherman A1 Feb 2015 #2
I lost 80 pounds ... Trajan Feb 2015 #3

Erich Bloodaxe BSN

(14,733 posts)
1. I'd recc more than once if I could.
Thu Feb 12, 2015, 09:40 AM
Feb 2015

The obesity epidemic is dangerous to more than just the individual. The blatant reality is that when someone says their extreme overweight is no business of anyone else's, they're being as myopic as those RWers who proclaim themselves 'self-made' and ignore the vast government-funded infrastructure that underlies everything they do. They're not only causing themselves to live shorter, less healthy lives, but they're endangering those emergency and medical workers who have to deal with them, from firemen on up through nurses and aides.

I'm overweight, and I know it, and I struggle to lose the extra and keep it off. But I don't pretend I'm only hurting myself. I know I'm also hurting others in other ways as well, such as spending money feeding my overweight self that could otherwise be going to those without enough to eat, or heat in winter.

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