Design that gives nurses better health. Molift wanted to develop a new flexible solution for patients lifting in institutions and contacted the technical designers Nicolay Knudtzon and Skjalg Aabakken from Aabakken Innovation & design in Oslo.

Nursing is one of the most demanding and stressful of the professional vocations in institutions. Analysis showed that as much as 25% of the nurses had experienced chronic back pains as a result of heavy lifting. Molift wanted to target the three important problems with existing equipment. They were to weak, to hard to manoeuvre or to difficult to use for unskilled workers without the proper training. Hence many times the nurses simply avoided using the lifters.

Molift wanted to develop a new flexible solution for patients lifting in institutions and contacted the technical designers Nicolay Knudtzon and Skjalg Aabakken from Aabakken Innovation & design in Oslo.

Nursing is one of the most demanding and stressful of the professional vocations in institutions. Analysis showed that as much as 25% of the nurses had experienced chronic back pains as a result of heavy lifting. Molift wanted to target the three important problems with existing equipment. They were to weak, to hard to manoeuvre or to difficult to use for unskilled workers without the proper training. Hence many times the nurses simply avoided using the lifters.

35 times its own weight
- we developed a new transfer system with ceiling rail in all of the rooms. This together with small, but really powerful lifters that are transported easy to the room where it’s needed, gives a flexible and efficient transfer system. The “little helper” weighs only 6,8 kg, but lifts an incredible 37,5 times its own weight, hence lifting patients up to 255 kg without hesitating. The lifter can be manoeuvred at finger ease, it is intuitive to operate and it lifts the heaviest of patients.

Feeling of risk
The lifting and transfer of patient is associated with risk. Patients become nervous and may experience pain. Huge turnover of nurses and the use of unskilled workers results in poor training in the use of transfer systems.
- Our task was to make products that the nurses could understand immediately and that they would trust to lift the heavier patients. We achieved this with various design features.
To minimize the risk of incorrect use we designed the hooks for the slings really big and intuitive in a red colour. Furthermore we integrated the Molift four point sling system that inhibit the patient feeling squeezed during the transfer. The Special bow-design gave more space around the patients head. And at last, the Molift Nomad is automatically charged through the remote control, making the routines of the nurses much easier, says the two technical designers from Norway