Texas Health and Safety Code

§ 256.002 — REQUIRED SAFE PATIENT HANDLING AND MOVEMENT POLICY

HS § 256.002Title 4. HEALTH FACILITIES · Part B. LICENSING OF HEALTH FACILITIES · Ch. 256. SAFE PATIENT HANDLING, MOVEMENT, AND DISCHARGE PRACTICES

Statute text

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(a)The governing body of a hospital or the quality assurance committee of a nursing home shall adopt and ensure implementation of a policy to identify, assess, and develop strategies to control risk of injury to patients and nurses associated with the lifting, transferring, repositioning, or movement of a patient.

(b)The policy shall establish a process that, at a minimum, includes:

(1)analysis of the risk of injury to both patients and nurses posed by the patient handling needs of the patient populations served by the hospital or nursing home and the physical environment in which patient handling and movement occurs;

(2)education of nurses in the identification, assessment, and control of risks of injury to patients and nurses during patient handling;

(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 to emergency, life-threatening, or otherwise exceptional circumstances;

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Legislative history

Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 401 (S.B. 1525), Sec. 1, eff. January 1, 2006.