The primary cause of injury during a manual transfer is overexertion. Overexertion occurs when the caregiver attempts to use lifting force on the patient. Most conventional manual patient transfers taught to health-care workers use some lifting force to affect the transfer. The use of lifting force is not necessary and should be avoided.
So how do you move someone without using lifting force?. The technique is: tip, balance and pivot, and it requires a small force equal to 10% of the patient’s weight. This force is a leverage force and is provided by the weight of the caregiver. There are a total of 15 manual leverage based techniques that will turn patients into lightweights. Learn the techniques and simple small tools that make it possible and eliminate exertion transfers before they become transfer injuries.
