Use Powered Sit-To-Stand equipment only to help patients that are able to bear weight on at least one leg. Stand assist lifts should not be used for patients who are combative, unpredictable, cognitive defects, poor balance, or limited weight bearing capacity.6 Remember... when staff are required to lift over 35 pounds, assistive devices must be used. Use stand assist aids to assist patients out of cars and to stand if they have upper body strength and are able to bear weight once in a standing position. Generally speaking: 0= no lifting, 1 = light lifting, 2= moderate lifting, 3= moderate to heavy lifting, and 4 = heavy lifting. According to Young and colleagues (Waters, 2007) median lifting weights were described as light -11pounds (5 kg.), moderate= 27 pounds (12.5 kg.) and heavy = 46.2 pounds (21 kg.). In addition, when a patient can lift part of their own weight it is not easy to determine lifting loads resulting in some facilities developing "no lift" policies.
6 Footnotes found in the Scoring & Algorithms for Safe Patient Handling & Mobility