Marion County Medical Center

MARION COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER ANNOUNCES NEW PATIENT TECHNOLOGY

06/25/2007

Marion, SC--On July 1, 2007, Marion County Medical Center will unveil new technology designed to improve “safe patient handling” and reduce the chance of both patient and worker-related injuries. The new equipment, expected to be fully operational by that date, will place Marion County Medical Center among the States’ top facilities in relation to employee/patient safety standards.

According to Roosevelt Stackhouse, RN, Director of Nursing Operations, “this equipment will greatly improve the efficiency of healthcare and the safety of both patients and staff.”

The new equipment consisting of the Steady, the SARA3000 (Stand and Raise Assist), the SARA Plus, the Maxi Move, the Maxi Slide, the Hover Mat and the Hover Jack play various roles in transporting and lifting patients ranging in weight from 250 to 503 pounds. It should also be noted that the Hover Mat has unlimited weight capacity. “The staff will be able to move patients quickly with less assistance from fellow employees and with much less back strain,” continued Stackhouse.

Research has shown that manually lifting & transferring dependent patients is a high-risk activity and nursing staffs have one of the highest incidences of work-related back problems of all occupations. It is estimated that the direct and indirect costs of these injuries cost the healthcare industry an average of $20 billion annually.

According to Stackhouse, not all stressful tasks in nursing are due to patient lifts. Patient transfers (bed to chair; bed to toilet, etc), weighing patients and even repositioning them in bed can result in back injuries.

The new equipment will not only result in injury reduction, it will improve the quality of care by increasing patient security and dignity during lifts and transfers and will promote patient mobility and independence.

It is estimated that during its first year of operation, the equipment will decrease by 50% the number of manual transfers. “This is significant,” concluded Stackhouse.