EFFECT OF SAFE PATIENT HANDLING (SPH) PROGRAM ON REHABILITATION OUTCOMES AND ON SAFETY OF PHYSICAL THERAPISTS IN RURAL HOSPITAL: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL

Patient management and intervention practices are a crucial component of patient treatment in the hospitals. Increase in inpatient mobilization to improve patient treatment raises a physiotherapist’s physical demands and therefore risk of injury. With the context of a patient mobilization program, better work procedures and decrease in physiotherapist’s injuries while working, SPH program was incorporated. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the SPH program and mobilization in the context of efforts to improve health care quality and patient safety, as well as the safety of physical therapists. There will be 2 groups, intervention (SPH) and comparison (no-SPH) each group will consist of 30 patients. The intervention group will be consisting the patients admitted in rehabilitation unit for the first three months of the research and the comparison group will consist the patients admitted in rehabilitation unit in the last 3 months of the research. Intervention group will undergo rehabilitation with SPH program which will include equipment like lifts based on ceiling and floors, sit to stand supports, motorized hospital beds and ambulation aids. In this study we found that the SPH program did not impede rehabilitation but also somewhat sped up the recovery process. Patients who had an SPH program during rehabilitation showed similar but better outcomes than those who did not.