Swimming Downstream

The Joys and Challenges of teaching SPHM in the Community College

Kirsten Berdahl, PT, MEd, CSPH

We all know the challenges of convincing health care providers and CEOs of the benefits of safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM) practices. There is that constant feeling of swimming upstream with obstacles and currents making gains hard to achieve. Well, convincing faculty to add SPHM into courses is equally as tough. The curriculum is too crowded already, accrediting bodies are not requiring it, textbooks don’t cover it, and board exams don’t include it.

But, do you know who isn’t hard to convince? Students!

I have the privilege of teaching SPHM to students in a community college in Arizona. These students represent the CNA, LPN, RN, PTA, OTA, Xray tech, Nuc Med Tech, Respiratory Tech, OR,and Nursing programs respectively. We start with a 20-minute introduction with stats and figures and then we hit the lab to practice. The first lesson is boosting a patient up in bed using a slide sheet, or, rather, how a patient can boost themselves up.

It is my favorite moment in the lab. Students are amazed! Eyes get big, there are oohs, aahs, gasps, and it’s not unusual to get a round of applause! “Game Changer!” more than one student has exclaimed. After that moment I really have their attention and we scurry through the remaining time, cramming as many SPHM tasks and devices in as possible. They get so excited, and my job becomes fun and easy. It’s like swimming downstream.

The Theory/Practice Gap:

During the few hours I have with the students, there are 5 questions and comments I regularly hear:

Where was this when I was working as a (fill in the blank)?
Are hospitals using this stuff?
I wish I had invented this!
How much does this cost and where can my hospital get this?
Why aren’t hospitals using this stuff?

Students leave with joy and excitement about SPHM. What do they find when they go to clinicals or get their first job? I’m afraid it may be the same old story. They hear “We don’t have the equipment, not enough equipment, don’t have the time, just easier to do it manually”, etc. And joy turns to indifference.

Certainly, it is difficult to suggest a change to seasoned professionals when you are the new kid on the block. So how can we empower students to be able to make changes in their new environments?

How to empower students to take a role in SPHM?

Suggest tactics? Roleplay? Give them fists full of research? I don’t know the answer to that question.

But here are a few things I tell them:

You now have the latest, research-based information. Let’s not keep doing things the way they did it in the 1940s.
This is about the only area of health care that hasn’t been revolutionized by the use of technology. Surgery, monitoring, communication, documentation have all been revolutionized by technology. We use machines to take blood pressures for goodness’ sake! And no one must beg or show a research article for that. Handling patients should revolutionize too.
With the nursing shortage, your hospital wants to take care of you, keep you healthy and happy. Tell them this is one way to do that.
Start with slide sheets. It is easy and inexpensive. Conduct a pilot study on your unit. You may be able to work up that clinical ladder faster and become a leader.
The machines can free up others so it’s more efficient. Two nurses and a ceiling lift instead of 4-5 nurses for a lateral or difficult transfer is better for everyone.
You can save your hospital money. You will be a hero.

Experienced healthcare workers need to pave the way for the next wave of professionals. We have to nurture, not nullify, the joy and excitement of the new graduate. Instead of indoctrinating them into the “standard ways” we need to be open and ready to learn from them.

Of course, if you are reading this blog, you are probably part of the choir already. So what is the solution? I’d love to know.

Kirsten Berdahl, PT, MEd, CSPHA runs the Safe Patient Handling Education (SaPHE) program at GateWay Community College in Phoenix.

She can be reached at berdahl@gatewaycc.edu.