Consumers

Information & Resources For Stakeholders – Consumers

Resources for Consumers about Safe Patient/Resident Handling and Movement and related equipment

Safe Patient Handling in Health Care: Applied Ergonomics for Nurses and Health Care Workers and Patient Orientation (2004). This training program consists of DVD training materials for both employees and patients. A 10 minute video for patients and families provides an overview of equipment  commonly used in hospitals and long term care facilities. Contact Pisith Kong at Oregon Nurses Association. Email:[email protected] for more information.

A Guide to Equipment used to Safely Move, Lift and/or Reposition
Patients or Residents
. A brief guide for patients and families
from Oregon Nurses Association (ONA)

SPH Equipment Information for Patients from Good Shepherd Medical Center, Hermiston, OR

Manual Patient Handling vs. Safe Patient Handling. A one page quick guide from Oregon Nurses Association (ONA)

Guidelines for Nursing Homes: Ergonomics for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders 2003 (rev 2009.) from FederalOSHA. This publication provides recommendations for nursing home employers to help reduce work-related injuries that occur from manual resident lifting in their facilities. The section titled ‘Implementing Solutions for Resident Lifting and Repositioning’ provide information about lift equipment that is useful to patients as well.

General Healthcare Related Resources for Consumers

Home – The Best Place for Health Care (2011). A positioning statement from The Joint Commission on the state of the home care industry

Medicare Coverage of Durable Medical Equipment and Other Devices  This booklet explains Medicare coverage for durable medical equipment, prosthetic devices, orthotic items, prostheses and therapeutic shoes in Original Medicare (sometimes called fee-for-service) and what you might need to pay. Durable medical equipment includes things like the following: •Home oxygen equipment •Hospital beds •Walkers •Wheelchairs and Patient Lifts.   

If you have questions about the cost of durable medicalequipment or coverage after reading this booklet, call1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). TTY users should call1-877-486-2048.

Healthfinder.gov has resources on a wide range of health topics selected from over 1,600 government and non-profit organizations to bring you the best, most reliable health information on the Internet.

A wide variety of information for the consumer from the Food and Drug Administration including timely and easy-to-read articles covering all FDA activities and regulated products.

The National Caregivers Library This library consists of hundreds of useful articles, forms, checklists and links to topic-specific external resources. It is organized into logical categories that address the key needs of caregivers and their loved ones.

Devoted Spouse