The old-fashioned way to reposition patients.

I haven’t seen draw sheets in hospitals for years now. “Back in my day,” those narrow sheets we placed across the middle of the bed were considered essential to patient care. Draw sheets were easier to change than the full sheet and they kept the bed neat. They always seemed to be hard to come by—probably because most nurses had stashed their own supply of them in patients’ rooms.

But more importantly, they were what we used to reposition patients. We used to work in pairs on turning rounds—one of us on each side of the bed, rolling the draw sheet tightly to get a grip, then sliding the patient up in bed or turning them on their sides. It was hard work, and no form of “good body mechanics” saved your back or shoulders and neck from strain when you needed to stretch across a bed—or, many times, climb on top of it—to move an unconscious patient. It’s no wonder that nurses and nursing assistants had such high rates of serious musculoskeletal injuries.

The institution of ‘No-Lift’ policies.

Then came electric beds, overhead lifts and transfer stretchers, and “No Lift” policies, which were based on data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on the frequency of injuries and supported by nursing organizations. Many hospitals and nursing homes implemented safe patient handling and mobility […]