§ 2997-K — Safe patient handling committees; programs

§ 2997-k. Safe patient handling committees; programs. 1. On or before\nJanuary first, two thousand sixteen, each health care facility shall\nestablish a safe patient handling committee (referred to in this section\nas a "committee" except where the context clearly requires otherwise)\neither by creating a new committee or assigning the functions of a safe\npatient handling committee to an existing committee, including but not\nlimited to a safety committee or quality assurance committee, or\nsubcommittee thereof. The purpose of a committee is to design and\nrecommend the process for implementing a safe patient handling program\nfor the health care facility. The committee shall include individuals\nwith expertise or experience that is relevant to safe patient handling,\nincluding risk management, nursing, purchasing, or occupational safety\nand health, and in facilities where there are employee representatives,\nat least one shall be appointed on behalf of nurses and at least one\nshall be appointed on behalf of direct care workers. One half of the\nmembers of the committee shall be frontline non-managerial employees who\nprovide direct care to patients. At least one non-managerial nurse and\none non-managerial direct care worker shall be on the safe patient\nhandling committee. In health care facilities where a resident council\nis established, and where feasible, at least one member of the safe\npatient handling committee shall be a representative from the resident\ncouncil. The committee shall have two co-chairs with one from management\nand one frontline non-managerial nurse or direct care worker.\n 2. On or before January first, two thousand seventeen, each health\ncare facility, in consultation with the committee, shall establish a\nsafe patient handling program. As part of this program, a health care\nfacility shall:\n (a) implement a safe patient handling policy, considering the elements\nof the sample safe patient handling policies and best practices\ndisseminated by the commissioner, as well as the type of facility and\nits services, patient populations and care plans, types of caregivers,\nand physical environment, for all shifts and units of the health care\nfacility. Implementation of the safe patient handling policy may be\nphased-in;\n (b) conduct a patient handling hazard assessment. This assessment\nshould consider such variables as patient-handling tasks, types of\nnursing units, patient populations and the physical environment of\npatient care areas;\n (c) develop a process to identify the appropriate use of the safe\npatient handling policy based on the patient's physical and medical\ncondition and the availability of safe patient handling equipment. The\npolicy shall include a means to address circumstances under which it\nwould be contraindicated based on a patient's physical, medical,\nweight-bearing, cognitive and/or rehabilitative status to use lifting or\ntransfer aids or assistive devices for particular patients;\n (d) provide initial and on-going yearly training and education on safe\npatient handling for current employees and new hires, and establish\nprocedures to ensure that retraining for those found to be deficient is\nprovided as needed;\n (e) set up and utilize a process for incident investigation and\npost-investigation review which may include a plan of correction and\nimplementation of controls;\n (f) conduct an annual performance evaluation of the program to\ndetermine its effectiveness, with the results of the evaluation reported\nto the committee. The evaluation shall determine the extent to which\nimplementation of the program has resulted in a reduction in the risk of\ninjury to patients, musculoskeletal disorder claims and days of lost\nwork attributable to musculoskeletal disorders by employees caused by\npatient handling, and include recommendations to increase the program's\neffectiveness;\n (g) when developing architectural plans for constructing or remodeling\na health care facility or a unit of a health care facility in which\npatient handling and movement occurs, consider the feasibility of\nincorporating patient handling equipment or the physical space and\nconstruction design needed to incorporate that equipment at a later\ndate; and\n (h) develop a process by which employees may refuse to perform or be\ninvolved in patient handling or movement that the employee reasonably\nbelieves in good faith will expose a patient or health care facility\nemployee to an unacceptable risk of injury. Such process shall require\nthat the nurse or direct care worker make a good faith effort to ensure\npatient safety and bring the matter to the attention of the facility in\na timely manner. A health care facility employee who reasonably and in\ngood faith follows the process developed by the health care facility in\naccordance with this subdivision shall not be the subject of\ndisciplinary action by the health care facility for the refusal to\nperform or be involved in the patient handling or movement.\n