Serious injuries affect nurses

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurses who work in hospitals are at a high risk of work-related illness and injury.

Hospital staff hurt on the job may feel the need to finish their shift. However, it can be detrimental to minimize an injury when talking to bosses or colleagues. Nurses’ injuries are often significant and even severe. Many require surgery and may necessitate long-term restrictions from lifting and carrying. Hospital work may expose nurses to the following serious job-related injuries.

Back injuries

Nursing is a physically demanding career. Nurses often move or lift patients, bending and twisting awkwardly. Such activities can result in herniated disks that cause nerve root compression and radiating pain. These disk injuries may require surgery. Nurses who are injured lifting a patient are covered in North Carolina under the “specific traumatic injury” rule, so if the claims administrator denies the claim due to “no injury by accident” get in touch with us for some professional help!

Head trauma

Hospital workers may slip and fall on slick floors, sometimes striking their head when they land. Violent patients sometimes hit or shove their caregivers, the outcome of which may be a blow to the head. Bob Bollinger represented an operating room nurse a few years ago who had to go under a table to pick up something off the floor, and she hit her head on the bottom of the table when she came back up. She had a concussion and a neck injury.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) can be problematic because they are often hard to diagnose and treat. Even a moderate TBI can cause long-standing memory and cognitive problems that interfere with one’s ability to perform a nursing job.

Cranial impact may result in a fractured skull, a rare but very serious event. Head trauma may also cause uncontrolled bleeding in or around the brain. This life-threatening condition calls for emergency treatment. Complications may include seizures and paralysis.

Health care professionals need to know the dangers that surround them so they can avoid injuries where possible. When injuries do occur, workers need to insist on prompt, proper care. We give free legal consultations to nurses and other health care workers injured on the job to help them get the benefits that they deserve from the workers’ compensation system.