(210 ILCS 85/6.25)

Sec. 6.25. Safe patient handling policy.

(a) In this Section:

"Health care worker" means an individual providing direct patient care services who may be required to lift, transfer, reposition, or move a patient.

"Nurse" means an advanced practice registered nurse, a registered nurse, or a licensed practical nurse licensed under the Nurse Practice Act.

"Safe lifting equipment and accessories" means mechanical equipment designed to lift, move, reposition, and transfer patients, including, but not limited to, fixed and portable ceiling lifts, sit-to-stand lifts, slide sheets and boards, slings, and repositioning and turning sheets.

"Safe lifting team" means at least 2 individuals who are trained in the use of both safe lifting techniques and safe lifting equipment and accessories, including the responsibility for knowing the location and condition of such equipment and accessories.

(b) A hospital must adopt and ensure implementation of a policy to identify, assess, and develop strategies to control risk of injury to patients and nurses and other health care workers associated with the lifting, transferring, repositioning, or movement of a patient. The policy shall establish a process that, at a minimum, includes all of the following:

(1) Analysis of the risk of injury to patients and nurses and other health care workers posted by the patient handling needs of the patient populations served by the hospital and the physical environment in which the patient handling and movement occurs.

(2) Education and training of nurses and other direct patient care providers in the identification, assessment, and control of risks of injury to patients and nurses and other health care workers during patient handling and on safe lifting policies and techniques and current lifting equipment.

(3) Evaluation of alternative ways to reduce risks associated with patient handling, including evaluation of equipment and the environment.

(4) Restriction, to the extent feasible with existing equipment and aids, of manual patient handling or movement of all or most of a patient's weight except for emergency, life-threatening, or otherwise exceptional circumstances.

(5) Collaboration with and an annual report to the nurse staffing committee.

(6) Procedures for a nurse to refuse to perform or be involved in patient handling or movement that the nurse in good faith believes will expose a patient or nurse or other health care worker to an unacceptable risk of injury.

(7) Submission of an annual report to the hospital's governing body or quality assurance committee on activities related to the identification, assessment, and development of strategies to control risk of injury to patients and nurses and other health care workers associated with the lifting, transferring, repositioning, or movement of a patient.

(8) In developing architectural plans for construction or remodeling of a hospital or unit of a hospital in which patient handling and movement occurs, consideration of the feasibility of incorporating patient handling equipment or the physical space and construction design needed to incorporate that equipment.

(9) Fostering and maintaining patient safety, dignity, self-determination, and choice, including the following policies, strategies, and procedures:

(A) the existence and availability of a trained safe lifting team;

(B) a policy of advising patients of a range of transfer and lift options, including adjustable diagnostic and treatment equipment, mechanical lifts, and provision of a trained safe lifting team;

(C) the right of a competent patient, or guardian of a patient adjudicated incompetent, to choose among the range of transfer and lift options, subject to the provisions of subparagraph (E) of this paragraph (9);

(D) procedures for documenting, upon admission and as status changes, a mobility assessment and plan for lifting, transferring, repositioning, or movement of a patient, including the choice of the patient or patient's guardian among the range of transfer and lift options; and

(E) incorporation of such safe lifting procedures, techniques, and equipment as are consistent with applicable federal law.

(Source: P.A. 100-513, eff. 1-1-18.)