Margaret,
In the hospital where I work the manual handling of the deceased is
kept to a minimum by a few simple and easy concepts that are tought to all
porters and mortuary assisstants. Firstly, the remains are transferred from
the hospital bed by one of two mean: a} if the weight of the body is
acceptable a minimum of two educated porters will use the undersheet of the
bed as a sling to slide the remains into the transfer cart; b}if the weight
is too excessive for two people then four porters will be used to transfer
the body. A hoist is rarely considered becasue it is more difficult to
position the body in the sling.
The transfer cart which is used to bring the bodies to the mortuary
only has one side and the ends are hinged to swing out wards which means
that lifting is not required, instead you can slide the body into and out of
the cart.
In the mortuary a hydraulically contolled trolley with rollers means
that again no lifting is required.
These principles are not based on any specific literature with
regard to manual handling of the deceased but rather on the lifting and
handling principles of heavy loads (i.e avoiding lifting if at all
possible).
I hope that this helps in some way.
Mark Healy
QMUC
Edinburgh
Scotland
Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice
-----Original Message-----
From: physio [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 1999 10:58 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Moving and handling the deceased
Hi,
I am an occupational health physio working with a large funeral company. I
am looking for any research papers published on moving and handling the
deceased ( world wide). I have searched the web but can find nothing. I
realise this is not prime research material but it still has to be done
safely and I would like to add to my current knowledge.
thank you for your help in advance
Margaret Revie
Chartered Physiotherapist
Scotland
UK
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