The evaluation of patient handling interventions in healthcare

Since 2005 the European Panel of Patient Handling Ergonomics (EPPHE) has been supporting an international research project to develop a tool for the evaluation of patient handling interventions across the EU. The project included involvement from UK, Italy, Finland and Portugal during its development. This tool has now been used in a number of countries in various types of healthcare environments. The tool calculates management performance in 12 different outcome areas to evaluate the changes made following a patient handling intervention. It evaluates all types of interventions from management style to equipment supply or training and education interventions. The tool is about to be integrated into a new series of evaluation projects and this symposium is an opportunity for the development work to be presented and the new projects to be explored and discussed.