Nurses Are Setting A Healthy Example For The Nation

The very nature of health care delivery, which requires 24/7 support, plays a critical role in the health of nurses. Health care is, after all, people caring for other people, and that comes with a certain amount of stress. In fact, a recent ANA survey identified stress as the top work environment health and safety risk. Shift work, often part of a nurse’s job, can also impact their health. But what shouldn’t be part of the job is the debilitating pain and often career-ending injuries nurses suffer every day from manually lifting patients—an estimated 3,600 pounds per shift. Safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM) programs, if properly implemented, can drastically reduce health care worker injuries. ANA has identified eight overarching SPHM standards of care to help nurses, other health care workers, and health care facilities address these challenges.