The nursing profession consists of providing healthcare at home or in health institutions. Regardless of geographic locations, the financial constraints are comparable. The goal is obviously to return the patient to optimum health. In the face of global aging population, nurses should unite together, regardless of race or religious beliefs, to serve the patients that they are committed to.

Nurses, through their experience and knowledge resulting in research-based evidence {Evidence-Based Nursing}, acquire many skills to facilitate the work. Evidence-Based Nursing is a way to effectively assist patients, using proven systems to assure that patient care and outcomes are improved. Exchanging these experiences will result in patient care at the highest level. One of the activities supporting the work of nurses in relation to the patient may be appropriate primers.

The appropriate primers will ensure quality control for each patient, and they can range from fatigue alert, health literacy to measurements of patient safety.  Using these primers can not only help caregivers quickly and efficiently perform bedridden patient care, but also to save their energy while changing positions.

Nurses are often exposed to diseases or disorders of the osteoarticular system, overload or injuries due to poor body mechanics in the course of nursing care. This is particularly true of nurses who are working with total-care patients. They can’t always count on other caregivers or mechanical lifts to help transporting patients, making many nurses at risk of being injured while on duty.

It is imperative for nurses to use simple, but at the same time, effective solutions while working. A PK’S pad is one of many methods that can be used by nurses around the world. It’s affordable but above all effective, and, when properly used, it can also protects caregivers.

PK’S is a reusable and washable pad that is usually 34”x 36”. It is usually used for patients who are bedridden. The nursing staff would use this to not only move the patient, but also to protect the patient’s bed. This pad can be used in the patient’s home, in the hospital, and in a nursing home. While it is used for protecting the bed, like for when nurses need to change a patient’s diaper or wash the patient, it can also be used to change the patient’s position from bed to bed. However, using this pad to transport patients can injure a nurse’s back and shoulders if they do not handle it properly.

Normally, a PK’S pad would have no handles on the side, and nurses would have to grab it by the corners. This puts many nurses at risk of injuring themselves, and it also makes them use a lot of energy that they need. To make it a lot easier for myself and my colleagues, I added handles along the sides of the pad to help me transfer patients, while also not putting myself at risk for any possible injuries. Once I did this, transferring patients became so much easier. It also helped nurses save a lot of time and energy when transferring patients.

As you can see from the picture below with Minnie, the pad is placed underneath the patient and is used to transfer them or re-position them.

To move a patient, the nurses would be on either side, gripping on the handles of the PK’S pad to move them into a different bed, onto a mechanical lift, or even just to change positions. The PK’S pad could also be used in various situations outside of the hospital. At one time, I used this with my mother who was in a wheelchair. We were going on a flight, and she needed to be transported to her seat. Instead of having the airport staff carry her into it, I suggested that they should use the PK’S pad that I had on me. At first, they were reluctant, claiming it was not safe. However, I told them that this was my mother and I would never put her at-risk, and I also mentioned that this was used in my hospital.

After slipping it underneath her, they used the handles to actually transport her to the seat, and they did so with much ease. There is a lot of potential with the PK’S pad that many would not even think of. It can also be used during natural disasters or emergency situations, so that patients can be moved from the streets and into ambulances to be transported to hospitals for treatment.

One of my goals is to teach nurses the importance of this pad and other methods to improve patient care. I am originally from Poland, and speaking to other nurses there I have learned about their bad conditions. After I received my Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland, I became even more dedicated to teaching nurses, whether it be in Poland or Canada, about the safe methods to care for patients that are bed-ridden in geriatric care.

It’s important for nurses to understand what comes with the care of patients. Care requires nurses to come together and to figure out solutions in order to help patients in the best possible way. Sometimes, this may require coming up with solutions on our own. Everyone who deals with patients, including family must remember that the work they do require is influenced by mental and physical health, as well as commitment and dedication to the patient.