Gait Belts Not Considered A Safe “Lifting Device”- Are They Safe—Period?
The debate on whether gait belts are safe lifting devices for caregivers to use with patients who require assistance has been going on since safe patient handling (SPH) became a focus issue for healthcare facilities and caregivers alike. Just last week MNOSHA stated that they and NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) do not consider gait belts as “lifting devices”(MNOSHA e-newsletter, Safety Lines, http://www.dli.mn.gov/OSHA/PDF/70_0111sl.pdf). I commend them for coming out with this statement. However, one has to consider if gait belts should even be considered as a “safe” transfer device.
[For those who are not familiar with gait belts (sometimes called transfer belts) are the belt/strap that is placed around a patient’s waist. Its purpose has been to assist the caregiver(s) to lift, transfer, stand or walk a patient who requires some level of physical assistance.]
When I was getting my physical therapy degree, we were taught to use gait belts in many instances. There was no thought to whether this truly was a safe device for the patient or therapist. It was just something that everyone used. ‘Safe patient handling’ wasn’t even thought about at the time. Manually moving patients with one, two or more people is what was done and expected. The gait belt served as the “handle” for us to hold onto in order to help our patients.
It’s been more years that I care to admit since I graduated as a physical therapist but the use of gait belts has remained ingrained in healthcare. It’s still very hard for PT, OTs, and nursing professionals to give up their gait belts. Even if we all agreed that they are not to be used for “lifting” we’d still be left with using them to help “walk” or “steady” a patient so they won’t fall. After all, if there wasn’t any risk we wouldn’t be using a gait belt in the first place. So, does using them at all make sense? Remember we said the reason for using the gait belt is because the patient is a fall risk so that requires a caregiver to either hope and pray that the patient doesn’t fall while using the gait belt or to be strong enough to hold up the patient or slowly lower him to the floor so he doesn’t get hurt. In many cases the caregiver isn’t strong enough and both end up getting hurt, physically and/or emotionally. Does that make sense? Is the use of gait belts good risk management policy?
Personally, as a physical therapist, ergonomist and patient/caregiver safety advocate, I’d like to see OSHA come out with a statement that gait belts are not “safe patient handling devices”-period. The use of gait belts implies that there is potential for the patient to fall, loose their balance, etc. This risk is not eliminated with the use of a gait. In fact, I believe it gives both the patient and the caregiver a false sense of security into believing that nothing bad can/will happen. I was lucky not to have had a patient fall or get injured when I was using the gait belt as a handle. Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed and heard of numerous instances over the years where the patient, caregiver or both were hurt due to the “risk” becoming fact. It’s time to stop believing that gait belts are “safe” for patients and caregivers and start using other appropriate safe lifting/walking devices that are truly safe for both. However, I’m sure the debate on this will continue on….