Safe Patient Handling Gap Analysis Checklist

Developed by: Lynda Enos for the Washington State Hospital Association

Description: An assessment of safe patient handling practices designed to identify gaps in existing practices in order to propose improvements. The assessment covers the foundation & management  of patient handling practices, the analysis of existing hazards, and proactive prevention of potential hazards. Most of the resource is dedicated towards evaluating and describing current hazards. Each item has a yes/no box describing its current implementation and a yes/no box describing intended future implementations. This resource is more designed towards assessing a safe patient handling program’s intentions and goals rather than identifying specific MSD concerns.

Keywords: patient, medical, handling, transfer, healthcare, forward-facing, equipment, gap analysis, administrative control