Strengthening capacities for caregivers to choose a valid lifting technique at daily practice.There is a high prevalence of spine related absenteeism within caregivers. Lifting techniques are hardly customized to the situation or the need of the caregiver and do not rely on the self-thinking ability. With this interactive app we want to develop a generic system at European level which provides real-life customized lifting techniques to the caregiver. Five intellectual outputs are chosen (a collaboration of all partners involved). (1) A guide of good practices in lifting techniques provides a synthesis of best practice and best evidence concerning lifting techniques for all partners. With (2) a generic set of learning outcomes we discuss and structure SMART learning outcomes. We continue by defining (3) a new didactical approach to train lifting techniques based on the self-regulated learning. Self-regulation is designed to maximize the long-term best interest of an individual and refers to a process that enables individuals to guide their goal-directed activities over time, including the modulation of affect, cognition and behavior. All output serves as content to make (4) a digital application in real-life customized lifting techniques which will be tested and evaluated profoundly by all partners. The app has the ability to simulate the actual environment where transfers will take place (most often this is the patients room). The app makes it possible to compose the room and indicate what is present (f.e: devices) or how the patient is like (f.e.: no support) and enlite what action you want to undertake (f.e.: ‘transfer bed-chair’) and thinks about the factor time. When all information is gathered the app provides three lifting techniques to choose from. When the correct answer has been chosen all instructions will be provided to the caregiver to perform the transfer. When the wrong answer has been chosen, the app will show why this was not the best choice. Last we organise (5) a train the trainer session which will result in a guideline how to train the trainer. In our multiplier events we organize roadshows in every participating partner: the roadshow will consist of a plenary session for all participants and several specific sessions for the individual target groups. Individual target groups will be defined through their particular tasks and profiles in health care. Experts will be invited as key note speakers. Because of the many differences in Europe, we chose partners from the North, the East, the South and the West of Europe, so the partners from different parts of Europe can find a consensus to determine the content and transferring the learning objectives. Our partners: VIVES University College Belgium (project coordinator), AZ Alma Belgium, Securex Health & Safety Belgium, Athlon S. Coop Spain, Nordic Health Alkmaar Netherlands, Nordic Health Finland and David Gerincklinika Hungary count for 5500 participants. With including these partners we aim for an approach which can be generic throughout whole Europe (for all caregivers).Each partner will be able to teach the other partner about their precise expertise and each partner will learn about that expertise of the other partners. In that way we create profound knowledge for each partner that covers every output described in this proposal. All partners will have an EBP tool ready to implement in daily practice. All partners will learn about the basic concepts in lifting techniques, training through self-regulated learning as well as using and implementing an app in daily practice. We target to reach every European caregiver, so prevention in low back pain can be achieved, correct lifting techniques can be applied and to create a more happy and productive caregiver with less absenteeism due to low back pain.We value good project management as a vital tool to the potential success of this project. The project management team will account for the quality of all processes leading up to the successful accomplishments of the project aims and objectives. The project guide with code of conduct and timeline contains all project milestones and planned activities.Our communication plan beholds several international face-to-face meeting and a broad dissemination plan that consists of newletters, social media, a project website and a forum where all information can be exchanged.
Short summary of the eUlift project There is a high prevalence of spine related absenteeism within caregivers. Use of the right lifting technique could prevent spine related injuries. But lifting techniques are hardly customized to the situation or the need of the caregiver and do not rely on the self-thinking ability. As well there is a lack of precision of the techniques and innovation in how they are taught. This leads to the following project focus: how to enhance the long-term learning effect in patient handling for caregivers? Output 1: All partners together developed an e-book based on best practices and best evidence. It is available in the language of each participating country, through our app (see output 4). To collect the current best practices concerning lifting techniques for caregivers, we created a survey for patient handling trainers. The survey focused on basic patient handling principles, Although not proven effective in patient handling, OSHA guidelines and ISO/TR 12296:2012 were the most described methods. Detailed descriptions of best evidence, how to perform patient handling and teaching methods are still lacking. Our e-book combines best practice with best evidence and covers all most important aspects of patient handling for caregivers. Table of content: general ergonomics, anatomy and function, biomechanics, general causes of back pain, pathology and dysfunction, pain education, postures, natural movements, basic postures and movements, care tasks. All aspects are illustrated with our own drawn caregiver and patient, the star of our show: Nina and Jacob. Output 2: learning outcomes. An essential part of the project is the teaching and training of the caregivers. For that reason, we defined learning outcomes. Learning outcomes are statements that describe the knowledge or skills caregivers should have acquired by the end of a particular assignment, class, course, or program, and help caregivers understand why that knowledge and those skills will be useful to them. They focus on the context and potential applications of knowledge and skills, help caregivers learn in various contexts, and help guide assessments and evaluations. How did we define learning outcomes? All learning outcomes were defined by the team and reviewed by an educational expert. Learning outcomes can be examined in the Train the trainer manual, on our website: eulift-app.com Output 3: didactics A specific didactical approach is used when teaching patient handling. We gathered all the best practices regarding the organization of the patient handling training from our partners. To obtain an overview of the best evidence, we systematically reviewed the didactics caregivers applied to patient handling. Much research has been done on the topic of patient handling, but none of that research has focused on the effectiveness of the applied didactics when teaching caregivers about patient handling. Should we use individual or group training, home-based learning, simulations? All didactics can be found in the Train the trainer manual. Output 4: the app Our app is an innovative and technological method to deliver our content. We developed it in close cooperation with our IT partner in Finland and with a 3D animations expert. All scenarios were drawn and reviewed several times with the team. The images and 3D videos used for patient handling education are our own, referred as Nina (caregiver) and Jacob (patient). Our app is freely available for Android and IOS. In the app there are four sections: the handbook (see output 1), animations of the basic postures, animations of the care tasks and the assessment of the patients mobility. To assess the patients mobility we used a standardized assessment, valid within caregivers. By answering a few basic questions the caregiver will see the patients mobility level and the caregiver can now choose what kind of transfer to perform. Ouptut 5: train the trainer The train-the-tainer handbook is availalbe in all languages through our website: eulift-app.com. It a focus and guideline for trainers in patient handling like ergocoaches, manutention person, reference person or ergonomic of the care setting. First launch of eUlift was well accepted and welcome in practice. eUlift is getting implementated in practice, true and long-term results needs to be waited for.