Handling Intervention Guidelines Needed for Older Adults With Osteoporosis

Researchers who conducted a study exploring staff experiences of caring for older adults with osteoporosis found that more clinical knowledge is needed when adapting generic, manual handling guidelines to patients with osteoporosis (J Clin Nurs. 2016).

Although osteoporosis is a global health problem, health care staff knowledge of the disease is generally suboptimal, and patients often do not receive appropriately tailored care. Thus, Margaret Coulter Smith, MSc, PhD, RN, (Queen Margaret University, UK) and colleagues examined the composition of manual handling risk assessments and interventions in osteoporosis.

From a purposive sample comprised of 26 nursing and allied health professionals, semi-structured interviews were conducted that addressed topics including knowledge of osteoporosis, implications for acute care, moving and handling, and clinical guidelines. Qualitative content data analysis was used.

Researchers found that awareness of osteoporosis prevalence in older populations varies, and implications for nursing are indistinct to nonspecialists. In-hospital fractures potentially linked to suboptimal moving and handling seemed rare, but prospective studies are needed.

Categories of “understanding moving and handling as routine care or as a health care intervention,” with further categories of “health care practitioners’ capacities and capabilities for dealing with people with osteoporosis” and “the structural and organizational context for moving and handling” are reported alongside safety, frailty, and dependency dimensions.

In conclusion, study authors think that more clinical expertise is needed when manually handling higher risk patients such as those with osteoporosis. Overall, patients’ experiences of moving and handling have received limited attention. —Amanda Del Signore