Avoid back injuries when working in healthcare settings

Nurses’ feet may be tired at the end of a long shift, but it’s often their backs that pay the ultimate price.

Studies of workers’ compensation claims that involved back-related injuries revealed that nurses have the highest claim rates of any occupation or industry. The American Nurses Association states registered nurses ranked fifth among occupations most at risk for strains and sprains Ñ higher up than stock handlers or construction workers. In addition, the American Journal of Critical Care reports that 38 percent of nursing staff has back pain and disabling back injuries.

Back pain compels many nurses to seek other employment. Learning ways to prevent back injury can keep nurses feel safer, happier and increase the likelihood that they enjoy long, productive careers in the field of nursing.

• Reevaluate patient transfer movements. University of Ohio researchers measured spinal load pressure during various routine nursing tasks involving patient handling, including the one-person hug and two-person gait belt. Various methods of transferring and repositioning patients place nurses in a high-risk group for back injury. The study indicated that use of the proper body mechanics that nurses are taught may do little to prevent cumulative or direct back injuries. Instead, proper mechanical lift equipment and dedicated lift teams can reduce rates of injury. This is something hospitals and other settings can consider.

• Maintain physical fitness. According to Richard H. Haglen, MSPT, CSCS, a physical therapist in Florida, nurses who maintain a healthy weight, muscle strength and flexibility are less likely to get hurt on the job. Trunk stability exercises can go a long way toward preventing future injuries.

• Maintain proper posture. Maintain good posture and body mechanics throughout the day when standing, sitting or walking. The online nursing resource Nurse Labs says the head should be held straight with earlobes in line with the middle of the shoulders when standing. Keep the shoulder blades back and the knees straight as well. In addition, the stomach should be tucked in and the pelvis should not be tilted forward or backward.

• Wear supportive shoes. Standing and walking on hard floors can put stress on the back. Shoes that absorb impact well can help reduce back pain.

Nursing back pain and injury is no joke. In fact, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health implemented a comprehensive research program several years ago that aimed to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders with major efforts to reduce lifting injuries in healthcare settings.

Nurses spend their professional lives taking care of others. But it’s equally important that nurses take steps to protect their own bodies while on the job.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — American security contractor Erik Prince, a close ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, violated the U.N. arms embargo against Libya along with three United Arab Emirates- based companies and their top managers during an operation to help a rebel military commander take the capital Tripoli, U.N. experts said.

In a key section of a report to the U.N. Security Council obtained Saturday by The Associated Press, the panel of experts outlined “a well-funded private military company operation” called “Project Opus” designed to provide military equipment to eastern-based commander Khalifa Hifter.

“The Project Opus plan also included a component to kidnap or terminate individuals regarded as high value targets in Libya,” the experts said.

The plan was first reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Oil- rich Libya was plunged into chaos after a 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi and split the country between a U.N.-supported government in Tripoli and rival authorities based in the country’s east, each side backed by an array of local militias as well as regional and foreign powers.

In April 2019, Hifter and his forces, backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, launched an offensive to try and capture Tripoli. His campaign collapsed after Turkey stepped up its military support of the U. N.- supported government with hundreds of troops and thousands of

Syrian mercenaries. An October cease-fire agreement has led to an agreement on a transitional government and elections scheduled for Dec. 24.

The panel of experts report said it identified “Project Opus” in June 2019.

It was designed to have private military companies provide Hifter’s forces with “armed assault rotary wing aviation, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, maritime interdiction, cyber, UAV, and intelligence fusion and targeting capabilities,” the experts said,

Prince became involved when Jordanian authorities became aware of elements of the plan “and suspended the auction” of surplus military helicopters to Hifter on June 18, 2019, according to the experts.