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Patient lift

Patient lift devices are commonly used with non-weight bearing or incapacitated patients to assist a caregiver in performing a variety of functions. Patient lifts are typically used in hospitals. Health care facilities and other places that care for invalid patients require a means of assistance for lifting invalid patients in order to move the invalid patient from one place to another. For example, a patient needs to be lifted from their bed for cleaning the patient, changing the bed, or transferring the patient to a wheelchair. Standard programs for health care injury prevention focus on body mechanics and back care, and the proper lifting techniques to employ when handling a patient. Notwithstanding this, injuries result even when proper body mechanics and lifting techniques are used. Lifting a patient is not simply overcoming a heavy weight. Patient lifts usually has wheels to facilitate convenient placement of the lift, such as adjacent a bed. The sling is wrapped around the patient and attached to the lift arm to support and retain the patient during the lifting operation. A patient lift provides a useful mechanism to move an incapacitated patient, for example, from a bed to a wheel chair or to a bath. Compared with manually lifting the patient, patient lifts reduce the risk of accident as well as physical stress on caregivers such as nurses, who often are relatively much smaller than patients. The most common patient lift devices are hydraulic lift systems that are operated by manual or motorized controls to lift and move the patient to a variety of positions. The patient lift devices can be used to transport the patient from a seated or resting position to another resting position, or can be used to transport the patient to a bathing facility, lavatory, or a variety of other locations.

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