
What Influences The Use of Lift & Assist Devices In Healthcare?
September 25, 2013
Low back pain remains the number one musculoskeletal disorder among nurses, and is widely attributed to patient handling activities. A number of ergonomic interventions have been developed to reduce the occurrence of back pain in patient handling activities. However, the actual implementation of ergonomic interventions in health care settings remains difficult. This study evaluates both individual and organizational factors that influence the use of safe patient handling equipment during patient handling activities -- information you can use when devising an effective safe patient handling process.
ErgoAdvocate Holds Best Practices Meeting for Clients
September 24, 2013
On Tuesday September 24, 2013 Ergoweb hosted a Best Practices web meeting for select ErgoAdvocate clients. Company representatives demonstrated ongoing system improvements and new features, then opened a discussion through which clients using the powerful office ergonomics management system shared successful strategies and best practices, including some compelling ROI.
Ergoweb Management to Speak at Upcoming Conferences
September 24, 2013
Peter Budnick, PhD, CPE, Ergoweb's Co-Founder and CEO, and Gene Kay, MS, CEA, President, ErgoAdvocate LLC (a division of Ergoweb), will speak at several conferences over the next week. Peter will participate in Globalization of Ergonomics, a panel session taking place at the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. Gene will speak at the 2013 Midwest Regional Occupational Health Conference and participate in a panel discussion at the Minnesota State Agency - Safety & Loss Control Conference.
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= paid subscription requiredFebruary 6, 2013
Hospital Bed Research to Improve Patient and Nurse Safety and Performance
Researchers have devised new methodologies and metrics to analyze patient migration while laying in hospital beds. The results of the study reviewed here should help hospital bed designers better understand patient migration patterns and influence new designs that will reduce migration, as well as reducing the pressure ulcers and skin tears migration can cause, and reducing the caregiver patient repositioning tasks that lead to high rates of back injury among nurses.
January 30, 2013
Thumb Reach Distances and Envelopes for Handheld Devices
Applied researchers Otten, Karn and Parsons where tasked with designing a handheld consumer camera requiring thumb operated controls. They were surprised to find that very little data was available for such devices, so they embarked on a collaborative research and design project to collect their own data, which they later shared in the published journal Human Factors. Peter Budnick reviews their work, describing it as a good example of "informed design," which he describes requiring an ergonomic, human-centered approach. The researchers also used novel techniques to collect thumb reach distance and envelope data, and also applied the "Mr. Potato Head" method to investigate control location preferences.
January 18, 2013
Complex Anthropometry Made Simple
Anthropometry is a primary consideration in ergonomics, yet it is often misunderstood and misapplied in the design of equipment and systems. In this example of why ergonomics is not always "common sense," guest contributor Bruce Bradtmiller, a leading anthropometry expert, explains why it's important to understand the complexity of anthropometry, and provides an explanation of one technique called multivariate accommodation modeling (MAM) using principal component analysis (PCA). Sound complicated? Bradtmiller cuts through the complexity and provides a simplified understanding that will make you appreciate anthropometry in a new way next time you sit in a chair or peek into the cockpit of an airplane as you board. Creating a good fit is not as easy as some might think.
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