Preventing patient positioning injuries - All procedural staff need education

Identifying risk factors that increase a patient's likelihood of position-related injuries is part of the pre-procedural evaluation. Examples of chronic illness that increase risk of positioning injury include extremes of body habitus, hypertension, diabetes, tobacco use, peripheral vascular disease, and advanced age [5,6]. From both an education and patient care perspective, anesthesia providers should work closely with our nursing colleagues as well as procedural physicians to ensure positioning-related injuries are addressed in continuing education for staff and trainees.