Good for Andrea Hess in highlighting the importance of asking questions during nursing job interviews about health and safety issues, including no-lift policy and patient-lift equipment ("Ensure a Long and Safe Career,"Health and Safety, June). It's equally important to ask about policy that guarantees permanent light-duty positions for nurses disabled by lifting patients. Professional nurses have been used as disposable equipment for far too long. They are terminated if they cannot keep lifting.

It's time to put the pressure on employers to prevent nurse injury with modern lift equipment and, where nurses must still lift patients, to provide continued employment for nurses whose backs are disabled by what is, essentially, forced hazardous lifting.

Anne Hudson, BSN, RN

Coos Bay, OR