RENE-project is set to improve and unify the patient handling education in health care sector. At the moment in Europe the patient handling skills are included into students’ curricula in various other topics which may cause poor quality and inefficient learning outcomes. The workplace safety issues and the use of risk management tools, the proper communication with the patient and the knowhow and skills on right handling techniques are central in managing patient handling in changing environments and situations. According to national and international statistics, the healthcare staff have a very high risk of musculoskeletal disorders, derived mainly from poor manual patient handling practices. Most back injuries of health care workers happened during manual patient handling. This highlights the need for proper focus on patient handling already in Bachelor level studies. RENE-project develops 5 ECT international course of patient handling in safe and rehabilitating way for health care students in European HEIs participating RENE. The European project consortium, altogether with seven higher education institutions (HEI’s) and two institutions of expertise on this field, the The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) and Ergosolutions Ltd. aim at increasing patient handling skills in safe and rehabilitating way of HEI staff and health care students in all participating countries. Project aims to develop and standardize an international course on patient handling and promotes internationalization of health care students. One of the aims is also to raise awareness of patient handling in safe and rehabilitating way in field of health care. The RENE project is based on three phases which form three Intellectual Outputs (IO). The first phase, “Analysing the conditions”, IO 1, will work as a basis for the second phase “Developing the SAPHA-course" (SAPHA-Patient handling in safe and rehabilitating way), IO 2. The third phase is the “Handbook”, IO3, which will be designed to support the practical implementation of the developed course and is directed to teachers. The Handbook (printed and especially e-version) will act as a tool for sustainability ensuring that the project’s results remain available after the project has ended. The project will strengthen the skills and knowledge of the students and HEI staff in the field of ergonomics and increase the skills in patient handling in safe and rehabilitating way by workshops, intensive weeks for students and teachers as well as in work-life projects. It will raise the quality of patient handling and ergonomics education in health care and introduce novel pedagogic solutions to the health care education.
The objectives of the project were: - to increase patient handling skills in an safe and rehabilitating way of HEI staff and health care students, in all participating countries - to develop and standardize an international course on patient handling in a safe and rehabilitating way - to promote internationalization of health care students - to raise awareness of patient handling in a safe and rehabilitating way in field of health care
How to assist patients to move is one of core skills of healthcare professionals. How to support patient’s mobility in rehabilitating and save way? The curriculum of ergonomics in health care, more specifically physiotherapy and nursing education is variable in Europe, as the length and contents are not legislated or standardized, not even nationally. National and international statistics provide evidence that healthcare staff have a very high risk of musculoskeletal disorders, derived mainly from poor manual patient handling practices. Most back injuries of health care workers happened during manual patient handling. Professional competencies of physiotherapists and nurses demand that they have a good basic knowledge of rehabilitative nursing and that they can work in an ergonomic way. In 1990 Manual Handling Directive was issued on the minimum health and safety requirements for the manual handling of loads where there is a risk particularly of back injury to ensure that workers are protected against the risks involved in the handling of heavy loads (Council Directive 90/269/EEC). Most EU countries implemented the Directive on Manual Handling within a few years of the issue but only few had national official patient handling guidelines. Among other things, the directive states the following: "employers must ensure that workers receive proper training and information on how to handle loads correctly and the risks they might be open to particularly if these tasks are not performed correctly". Also, the physiotherapists working in the health care sector are not only expected to handle patients in rehabilitating and safe way, but also to guide and teach another health care workers for these handling methods. For other health care professionals, it is common to have one dedicated professional in ward who is responsible for guiding and teaching the new staff members, and the topic of workplace safety covers, or at least should cover, also the patient handling situations.