SB1577eng 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

  
  
  

 


 
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1    AN ACT concerning health facilities.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Hospital Licensing Act is amended by
5changing Section 6.25 as follows:
 
6    (210 ILCS 85/6.25)
7    Sec. 6.25. Safe patient handling policy.
8    (a) In this Section:
9    "Health care worker" means an individual providing direct
10patient care services who may be required to lift, transfer,
11reposition, or move a patient.
12    "Nurse" means an advanced practice nurse, a registered
13nurse, or a licensed practical nurse licensed under the Nurse
14Practice Act.
15    "Safe lifting equipment and accessories" means mechanical
16equipment designed to lift, move, reposition, and transfer
17patients, including, but not limited to, fixed and portable
18ceiling lifts, sit-to-stand lifts, slide sheets and boards,
19slings, and repositioning and turning sheets.
20    "Safe lifting team" means at least 2 individuals who are
21trained in the use of both safe lifting techniques and safe
22lifting equipment and accessories, including the
23responsibility for knowing the location and condition of such

 

 

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1equipment and accessories.
2    (b) A hospital must adopt and ensure implementation of a
3policy to identify, assess, and develop strategies to control
4risk of injury to patients and nurses and other health care
5workers associated with the lifting, transferring,
6repositioning, or movement of a patient. The policy shall
7establish a process that, at a minimum, includes all of the
8following:
9        (1) Analysis of the risk of injury to patients and
10    nurses and other health care workers posted by the patient
11    handling needs of the patient populations served by the
12    hospital and the physical environment in which the patient
13    handling and movement occurs.
14        (2) Education and training of nurses and other direct
15    patient care providers in the identification, assessment,
16    and control of risks of injury to patients and nurses and
17    other health care workers during patient handling and on
18    safe lifting policies and techniques and current lifting
19    equipment.
20        (3) Evaluation of alternative ways to reduce risks
21    associated with patient handling, including evaluation of
22    equipment and the environment.
23        (4) Restriction, to the extent feasible with existing
24    equipment and aids, of manual patient handling or movement
25    of all or most of a patient's weight except for emergency,
26    life-threatening, or otherwise exceptional circumstances.

 

 

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1        (5) Collaboration with and an annual report to the
2    nurse staffing committee.
3        (6) Procedures for a nurse to refuse to perform or be
4    involved in patient handling or movement that the nurse in
5    good faith believes will expose a patient or nurse or other
6    health care worker to an unacceptable risk of injury.
7        (7) Submission of an annual report to the hospital's
8    governing body or quality assurance committee on
9    activities related to the identification, assessment, and
10    development of strategies to control risk of injury to
11    patients and nurses and other health care workers
12    associated with the lifting, transferring, repositioning,
13    or movement of a patient.
14        (8) In developing architectural plans for construction
15    or remodeling of a hospital or unit of a hospital in which
16    patient handling and movement occurs, consideration of the
17    feasibility of incorporating patient handling equipment or
18    the physical space and construction design needed to
19    incorporate that equipment.
20        (9) Fostering and maintaining patient safety, dignity,
21    self-determination, and choice, including the following
22    policies, strategies, and procedures:
23            (A) the existence and availability of a trained
24        safe lifting team;
25            (B) a policy of advising patients of a range of
26        transfer and lift options, including adjustable

 

 

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1        diagnostic and treatment equipment, mechanical lifts,
2        and provision of a trained safe lifting team;
3            (C) the right of a competent patient, or guardian
4        of a patient adjudicated incompetent, to choose among
5        the range of transfer and lift options, subject to the
6        provisions of subparagraph (E) of this paragraph (9);
7            (D) procedures for documenting, upon admission and
8        as status changes, a mobility assessment and plan for
9        lifting, transferring, repositioning, or movement of a
10        patient, including the choice of the patient or
11        patient's guardian among the range of transfer and lift
12        options; and
13            (E) incorporation of such safe lifting procedures,
14        techniques, and equipment as are consistent with
15        applicable federal law.
16(Source: P.A. 96-389, eff. 1-1-10; 96-1000, eff. 7-2-10.)