Safe Patient Handling Training: One-Year Practice Indicators

To evaluate the implementation and one-year practice-related indicators of a structured safe patient handling training program within a quality improvement framework.

Safe patient handling is a core component of rehabilitation nursing practice, particularly for patients with reduced autonomy, but it exposes healthcare workers to substantial biomechanical demands and risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Although structured training programs are widely used to promote safer handling practices, evidence on their sustained integration into routine clinical practice remains limited.

A pragmatic quality improvement evaluation was conducted in a tertiary hospital. Self-reported patient-handling practices were assessed at baseline and three months after training. Direct field observations were performed one year after implementation to explore maintenance of selected handling behaviors in units with and without prior training exposure. Analyses were descriptive.

At three months, participants reported increased use of assistive devices and improved decision-making across transfer scenarios. At one year, trained units demonstrated higher frequencies of selected organizational behaviors, including maneuver preparation and team coordination. Variability persisted in posture-related practices, and overall assistive device use remained limited.

Structured training was accompanied by sustained improvements in selected organizational aspects of patient handling, although contextual factors influenced consistent integration.