Stakeholder Experiences Reveal Key Determinants for Implementing Safe Patient Handling Practices

A qualitative study reveals that the interdependence between leadership, facilitation, and participants’ active engagement with knowledge shapes how safe patient handling and movement interventions are enacted in clinical practice. Researchers investigating stakeholders’ experiences found that these organizational and social dynamics enabled the translation of safe handling practices into routine clinical care, fostering perceived improvements in organizational safety culture and workplace routines.

The investigation was designed to address a critical gap in health services research: while evidence supporting the effectiveness of safe patient handling and movement interventions has grown, insight into how these programs are implemented and sustained within routine healthcare settings has remained limited. By focusing on stakeholders who directly participated in implementation following a cluster randomised controlled trial, the researchers sought to uncover the specific mechanisms and determinants that influence whether such interventions become integrated into practice over time.

To examine these processes, the authors employed a qualitative explorative and descriptive design based on individual interviews with 25 implementation stakeholders. Participants included organizational leaders, external facilitators, and members of implementation teams. These individuals were recruited from a broader cluster randomised controlled trial that evaluated the implementation and effectiveness of a multifactorial safe patient handling and movement intervention across regional and municipal healthcare units in Sweden.

The research team analysed interview data using qualitative deductive-inductive content analysis structured around the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. This analytical approach produced five deductive categories directly corresponding to framework constructs—innovation, inner setting, individuals, implementation process, and actual implementation outcomes—alongside 13 inductively developed categories that captured the specific determinants influencing the adoption of safe handling practices.

According to the reported findings, implementation outcomes were reflected in the practical enactment of the intervention and the establishment of conditions necessary for sustained use. Stakeholders reported tangible changes in safety culture, established work routines, and the active use of patient handling equipment in clinical environments. The overarching cluster randomised controlled trial associated with this investigation is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under the reference NCT05276180.

Subject of Research: Implementation of safe patient handling and movement interventions in healthcare

Article Title: Stakeholders’ experiences of the implementation of a multifactorial intervention for safe patient handling and movement: a qualitative explorative and descriptive study

Article References: Nilsing-Strid, E., Sandqvist, J., Skamagki, G., & Wåhlin, C. (2026). Stakeholders’ experiences of the implementation of a multifactorial intervention for safe patient handling and movement: a qualitative explorative and descriptive study. BMC Health Services Research, 26(1), Article 1545. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-16068-8

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12913-026-16068-8

Keywords: safe patient handling, patient handling and movement, implementation science, qualitative research, Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, healthcare safety, safety culture, clinical practice, Stakeholders, experiences, implementation, multifactorial