Patient handling risk assessment in paediatric wards: Load and organizational peculiarities

Patient handling risk assessment is usually performed in a quantitative fashion. Quantitative methods are based on the assignment of values to different risk factors involved such as lifting frequency, level of patient cooperation, environment, worker&s;s training etc. However these methods can&s;t be used in paediatric hospitals because of their peculiar assistive features. Furthermore there is a preconception that in paediatric wards there aren&s;t lifting risks because of the low weight handled. In one of the most important Italian paediatric hospital we collected information about patient weight, anthropometry and diseases to better analyze the tasks. We used the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) risk assessment tool, a qualitative model that could be useful in a paediatric environment. We found in 50% of the wards, the mean patient weight below 20 kg. We also found a mean patient weight of over 40 kg in 25%. Surprisingly we found, in paediatric wards, patients over 50 years because they are followed for all the path of their life. We also found wards that even with similar patient weight and age presented different level of risk due to the different level of patient cooperation. Adult patients, different weights and collaboration could lead to the high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorder in paediatric wards.