Patient Injuries Due to Traditional Patient Lifts and How the Freedom Patient Lift Helps Prevent Them

What are Traditional Patient Lifts?

Patient lifts have been a common sight in hospitals, senior living centers, and homes for quite a long time. They are assistive devices that help transfer patients with reduced mobility safely between their wheelchair, bed, toilet, and bathtub. While they are invaluable to patients, they are also extremely helpful for hospital staff and caregivers when used correctly. However, significant cons come with certain types of patient lifts.

Traditional patient lifts in common use are the Hoyer and ceiling lifts. The Hoyer lift is a portable patient transfer lift system that uses a sling to help lift and transfer a patient from one place to another. The ceiling lift is a motorized ceiling lift that transfers patients with the help of an overhead track system, which can either be attached to the ceiling or be portable.

In this article, we'll discuss the injury-causing issues that these two lift systems cause and suggest an alternative: the Freedom Patient Lift.

Do These Traditional Patient Lifts Cost Patients Their Health?

The invention of assistive devices has drastically improved the lives of patients and the handling techniques and health of caregivers, but that has not come without a cost. These lifts are associated with physical injuries to caregivers, including the development of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) due to excessive straining while handling the patients. In addition, for patients, traditional lifts can lead to psychological distress.

Physical Injuries to Patients:

  • A traditional patient lift transfers a patient with the help of a sling. If the sling size is not right for the patient's weight, age, and condition, or if it is incorrectly positioned, it can restrict the patient's blood flow or impair their breathing. Moreover, a patient's injuries can also worsen if the sling is too tight.
  • Wrong sling size (too small or too large) can also result in the patient slipping out of the sling and falling during transfer, leading to potentially serious complications.
  • Even a correctly sized sling can be an uncomfortable or painful experience for patients with significantly reduced mobility at joints.
  • Hoyer and ceiling lifts are complicated devices that require time-consuming and in-depth training of the users to operate correctly. Hence, inadequate training and improper handling techniques are very much standard on the part of the caregivers, which may cause the lift to tip over or other equipment failure issues to arise during patient transfer.

Psychological Distress to Patients:

There are many psychological effects that traditional patient lifts can have on a user:

  • Slings are not a dignified way to transfer patients and can be downright demeaning for them. Traditional patient lifts can lower the patient's self-esteem and cause long-term emotional distress.
  • Fear of falling while being transferred in a sling can also cause psychological distress to the patient.
  • Traditional lifts can make the patient claustrophobic due to significantly reduced movement while being transferred in a sling.

As mentioned above, lifting patients to transfer them to a traditional patient lift sling also puts unnecessary strain and burden on the caregiver's body, leading to lower back pain, sprain in the neck and shoulders, and other MSD issues.

Where do We Come into This?

We have the perfect solution if you've noticed the above mentioned issues in hospitals, senior living centers, medical facilities, and homes!

Our Freedom Transfer Patient Lift is an all-in-one patient transfer solution that offers patients with mobility issues greater freedom of movement. Unlike traditional patient lifts like the Hoyer lift, it doesn't require lifting the patient. Hence, it is a safer, quicker, and more convenient way to transport patients between their bed, chair, and toilet.

Our electric patient lift is an ideal solution for hospitals, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes. It's also a great portable patient lift for home use.

How Does Our Freedom Transfer Patient Lift Address These Issues?

We tailor to the essential needs with our lift, covering more than just the basics of comfort, safety, and dignity.

  • Unlike the Hoyer and ceiling lifts, our portable patient lift doesn't require a sling. Instead, the patient sits comfortably on the lift's chair and can use it stress-free, without fearing falling over and injuring themselves.
  • Our Freedom Transfer Patient Lift also comes with arm grips that the patient can hold onto for additional stability while being transported from one place to another.
  • Through the use of a chair rather than a sling, we offer a dignified way of transporting patients that is also comfortable at the same time.
  • The added constraints and maneuvering needed in traditional patient lifts can make patients anxious and frightened. In contrast, the Freedom Patient Lift reduces those sources of discomfort by providing greater freedom of movement to the patient's upper body.
  • Since our Freedom Transfer Patient Lift does not require lifting patients by the caregivers, as seen in the Hoyer lift, the strain and burden on caregivers are significantly reduced, and so is the risk of MSD development.

Book Your Order Today!

Are you hoping to supply the same comfort level to your patients and caregivers that our Freedom Transfer Patient Lift promises? If yes, contact us today for more information or to book your order right away.

Patient support devices shouldn't cost your patient's health and happiness, and we at Mobile Patient Lift work passionately to ensure that!

Back to blog