| Description |
The spiraling costs of health care poses an increasing threat to accessibility and affordability of health care in the future. Since prevention is the most logical and economical way to control costs, many hospitals and nursing facilities have implemented annual training programs in safe transfer and lifting techniques to control the costs of low back impairments among nursing personnel. Researchers studying the effect of these program, however, reported controversial findings. Some studies found a reduction in low back injuries, while others discovered little or no effect. To resolve the apparent contradiction in these findings, validity and reliability of five studies on prevention are discussed and related to other research findings. Based on the outcome of this discussion it is concluded that training alone is not effective. Supervision, regular feedback, and management support are essential to ensure compliance and long term effect. Additional measures to adjust workload and job-design may also be required. Health care costs prove to be most affected, however, by remedial programs aimed to reduce time lost after injury, preventing chronic disability. Recommendations on ways to include all these factors in a comprehensive prevention program are presented at the end. |
