This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on Web of Science (2)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Nursing Care  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: In their article on the nursing shortage, Drs Berliner and Ginzberg¹ did not address the physical demands of nursing. The increased risk of musculoskeletal injuries is a significant reason for people not wanting to enter the profession, for nurses not wanting to work in nursing homes and hospitals, and for injured nurses to leave the profession. The authors did state that " . . . answers to these problems seem to be to increase the number of assistive staff to help moderate some of the more strenuous physical demands of the job . . . ." However, lifting even a small patient far exceeds the 51-pound weight load for ideal conditions recommended by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.² Our research³ and experience shows that introducing the right type and amount of patient care technology into clinical settings is far superior to increasing the numbers . . . [Full Text of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?