Im going into this field, and am in need of some information. Being a disabled vet, i need to know what some of the more strenuous activities, what kind of lifting you do during the day and such. Im kinda limited on lifting and extreme bending. Any help or just some general knowledge would be appreciated.
You need to use Back smart techniques when lifting patients or you will mess up your back. Every Hospital employers nowdays hand out Back Smart booklets. Ask for help lifting don't be inpatient and wait for lifting help to get there and coordinate your lift, like on 3 lift. Most Radiology, Cath Labs have slider boards that you can roll pt. on their side slip board under the sheet they are laying on roll them back and then coordinate the slide as well. Do not try and be a Superman you might get way with it for a while but eventually it will catch you. I work in a cath lab use X-ray/fluoro thru out the day everyday.and we do alot of patient lifting onto the procedure table and off. I've had 3 back surgeries( 2 fusions and 1 lamenectomy) intially hurt myself when nurses called me over to lift this morbidly obese woman (400 lber)that was intubated(post CABG) and had slid down in her bed. Well we grab her draw sheet and going to lift and move her up in her bed. I didn't know nurses forgot to undo her arm/hand restraints her hands were tied down with soft restraints so she wouldn't pull her ET-tube out. Well we coordinate the lift on 3 ...1,2,3 lift pop goes my back. Recovered from that.Then another time the whole ceiling unit made of thick steel that holds flouro monitors 3 20x20Sony Trinitrons TV monitors were coming off the rollers so I got up there to prevent them from falling/ slipping out of the rail guides on to a little old lady that we were getting ready to implant a pacemaker in. Well they come down approx. 600 lbs onto my neck and back took 3 guys to get em off me. Kept em from hurting the lady but Blew a disc. So always call for help then try and lift someone or something by yourself and use Back smart techniques i.e. your legs with back straight abdomin tight, don't ever just bend over and try to lift. Take it from someone who has moved thousands of pt's over 20 years of working in CathLab. Again be BACK SMART and ask for Help..........
