DADS has posted Provider Letter #05-50 – Safe Resident Handling and Movement Practices. The letter is a result of Senate Bill 1525 (SB 1525), which is codified in Texas Health & Safety Code, Chapter 256. What the statute requires is that a facility’s Quality Assurance Comittee, shall adopt and ensure implementation of a policy to identify, assess, and develop strategies to control risk of injury to patients and nurses associated with the lifting, transferring, repositioning, or movement of a patient. This policy must include the following:
• Analysis of the risk of injury to both residents and nurses posed by the resident handling needs of the resident populations served by the nursing facility and the physical environment in which resident handling and movement occurs;
• Education of nurses in the identification, assessment, and control of risks of injury to residents and nurses during resident handling;
• Evaluation of alternative ways to reduce risks associated with resident handling, including evaluation of equipment and the environment;
• Restriction of the use of equipment and aids to manually move the resident’s weight except in emergencies or life threatening or exceptional circumstances;
• Collaboration with the nurse staffing committee, and submission of an annual report;
• Procedures for nurses to refuse to perform or be involved in resident handling or transfers that the nurse believes in good faith will expose a resident or nurse to an unacceptable risk of injury;
• Submission of an annual report to the QAAC on activities related to the identification, assessment, and development of strategies to control risk of injury to residents and nurses associated with the lifting, transferring, repositioning, or movement of a resident; and
• For nursing facilities that are newly constructed or remodeled, consideration of the feasibility of incorporating resident handling equipment or the physical space and construction design needed to incorporate that equipment at a later date should be included in the development of architectural plans.
You can find the provider letter by clicking here. The online Health & Safety Code does not appear to be updated with the new chapter. I had to find it through Lexis. However, the wording of the bill can be found by clicking here.