Healthcare providers are dedicated to the well-being of others. Sadly, their work often exposes them to numerous hazards, ranging from toxic chemicals to workplace injuries. By embracing ergonomics in healthcare, hospitals can enhance their workplace safety and create a healthier, more efficient work environment.
Defining Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the design philosophy that emphasizes the user’s well-being to prevent injuries and enhance their workplace efficiency. For example, a chair with proper lower back support that encourages good sitting posture has good ergonomics. A phone with a screen that constantly flickers and is so out of focus that it forces the user to strain their eyes is an example of poor ergonomics.
Ergonomics goes beyond just designing products, however. Workstations and entire facilities can be said to have good or bad ergonomics based on how workers interact with them. In healthcare, this could mean having medical supplies in convenient and easy-to-reach locations, or wide hallways that allow for multiple safe foot traffic lanes.
Why Do We Need Ergonomics in Healthcare?
Ergonomics plays a critical role in healthcare for both providers and patients. Given the long and demanding work hours that providers deal with, maintaining safety and energy throughout a shift is essential. Similarly, an uncomfortable patient is likely to heal more slowly and suffer more complications.
Healthcare Provider Safety
Sadly, hospitals are one of the most hazardous workplaces in the world. In 2019 alone, U.S. hospitals recorded 221,400 work-related injuries or illnesses. This translates to roughly 5.5 injuries for every 100 full-time employees. The most common type of injury for providers is musculoskeletal disorders, such as sprains and strains. These typically occur from overexertion, such as lifting too much weight or with poor technique.
Even common workplace injuries, such as back pain from sitting improperly or carpal tunnel syndrome from poor typing posture, can impair workers and force them to call out sick. Other common types of injuries for healthcare providers include falls and contact with hazardous materials, such as toxic chemicals.
Burnout Prevention
Another factor that often goes undiscussed is the impact of ergonomics in healthcare on a provider’s mental health and happiness. Sadly, this is another area where the healthcare sector needs help. In the most recent polling, 45.2% of doctors reported at least one symptom of burnout, such as emotional exhaustion, detachment from work, and uncaring towards patients. While this number is a drop compared to previous years, it is still distressingly high.
Ergonomic procedures can help alleviate these feelings of exhaustion and frustration. Workers who are physically healthy and protected from accidents are less likely to feel stressed out or overwhelmed. Even something as simple as reducing the need to bend down or stand on tiptoes to access work supplies can reduce physical and mental discomfort.
Patient Comfort
Ergonomics in healthcare doesn’t just pertain to providers. It is also a key factor in ensuring patient recovery and safety. A relaxed, comfortable patient is able to heal from surgery or illness more quickly and is less likely to cause issues. Elements like comfortable beds and proper lifting procedures protect all parties involved.
What Healthcare Equipment Needs Ergonomic Designs?
Any piece of equipment that providers and patients regularly interact with should be designed with ergonomics in mind. The most critical elements to target include:
Beds
Most patients will be confined to their beds for the majority of their stay at a hospital. As anyone who’s struggled with an uncomfortable bed can tell you, it can be a nightmarish experience. That’s why it’s so important for hospital beds to be adjustable, tilting up and down or altering their support to better support the patient’s body. Even better is if the patient can adjust their bed’s settings without needing a provider’s assistance, as this lets providers focus on other tasks.
Computers and Workstations
Given how much modern healthcare work is done with computers, using ergonomically-friendly equipment is critical. For example, healthcare staff often use mobile workstations on wheels (WOW), which typically take the form of a PC hooked up to a power supply on a cart. This allows them to take the PC along with them as they perform tasks like charting and dispensing medicine.
However, these power supplies are very heavy, which makes the cart cumbersome and difficult to push around during a shift. A better solution is a battery-powered medical PC on a non-powered cart, which is lighter and less taxing. Even lighter is a medical-grade tablet, which can support many of the standard healthcare software tools, while still being small enough to carry in one hand. These tablets can integrate carrying straps and handles for even greater ease of use.
Another key concern for using computers is eye strain from staring at monitors for hours on end. Anti-glare filters are key here, as they can filter out harsh light and preserve the screen’s visibility.
Lastly, adjustable equipment is a significant improvement for end-user comfort. A large workforce of healthcare providers will have a wide range of body shapes and heights, meaning they will all find different arrangements comfortable. Computer stands that can be raised or lowered spare workers from having to crane their necks, while adjustable furniture lets them find a posture that works for them.
Facility Layouts
An ergonomic facility layout makes the facility itself easier and more comfortable to work in. Creating this layout depends on an open and honest dialogue between administration and staff to determine priorities like equipment storage, workplace arrangement, and more.
Some examples of ergonomic layouts include:
- A good ergonomic layout for a nurses' station will have all the equipment and consumables that nurses may need within easy reach without constantly kneeling or stretching.
- If a cabinet stores supplies, the ergonomic solution is to put the most commonly used items front and center to be the easiest to access. You should also place heavier objects near the bottom so that they pose less of a falling hazard.
- Wider hallways make it easier for multiple foot traffic lanes to exist without risking people running into each other, which is especially critical when moving high-risk patients.
- Handrails in stairways and rooms for patients at risk of falling are a small addition but can be the difference between a scuffed knee and a broken hip.
Proper Procedures
While not technically “equipment,” ergonomic procedures are critical for protecting staff from unsafe behaviors or overexertion. Since most healthcare injuries occur during physical stress, avoiding mistakes like incorrect posture while lifting heavy objects or not maintaining situational awareness is critical.
Embracing ergonomic procedures means understanding that ergonomics isn’t just about what tools you use, but how you use them. Training staff on high-risk procedures like transferring patients from a bed to a wheelchair can prevent both repetitive stress injuries and sudden accidents. Even something as simple as lifting with your legs instead of your back and avoiding awkward posture can significantly contribute to ensuring the health, safety, and comfort of your employees.
Benefits of Ergonomics in Healthcare
By using ergonomic design principles in their equipment and facilities, healthcare groups benefit on multiple levels.
Fewer Injuries
First and foremost, implementing ergonomic practices can drastically reduce the number of injuries that your workforce experiences. Given that musculoskeletal disorders are some of the most common injuries that healthcare providers face, preventing these from occurring goes a long way in protecting your employees. From preventing sprains to reducing carpal tunnel syndrome, ergonomic design principles and procedures provide a massive payout for minimal effort.
Greater Efficiency
It isn’t much of a coincidence that ergonomically designed healthcare tools also let providers be more efficient. After all, the less time they spend trying to make their equipment work or dealing with the side-effects of using it for long periods of time, the more time they can spend treating patients. A lightweight and flexible medical-grade tablet can easily be used for charting and spare the provider using it from hauling 50+ pounds of computer, cart, and battery everywhere they go.
Better Job Satisfaction
Staffing continues to be a crisis for the healthcare industry. In the U.S. alone, we may face a shortage of physicians numbering 86,000 by 2036. While there is certainly more than one facet to this problem, losing providers to stress and anger over a poor working environment is completely unnecessary. Ergonomic design choices help prevent burnout and improve employee retention.
Faster Patient Recovery
A comfortable patient at rest heals faster than a fidgety, restless one. In extreme cases, discomfort and high levels of cortisol can even affect the nervous and immune systems, deeply affecting a patient’s recovery. Ergonomic features like adjustable beds or “smart rooms” that can tailor the environment to the patient’s preferences let them focus on getting better, which frees up space in the hospital more quickly.
Challenges for Implementing Ergonomics in Healthcare
Despite all the benefits that ergonomics offers in healthcare, there are challenges and considerations that you will have to address if you want to implement it effectively. The most important obstacles to overcome are:
End-User Feedback
Given how ergonomics focuses on the human experience, the first challenge is to actually get feedback from humans. Talk to your employees and establish an open and honest dialogue about their issues, concerns, and pain points. What do they struggle with the most and where do they feel the most stress? Take these issues into account when you’re planning an equipment or facility upgrade. You can even use Internet of Medical Things sensors to track their movements throughout a facility, such as seeing how many times they have to go back and forth from a nurses' station to get basic supplies.
Cost of Implementation
The truth is that new equipment or remodeling your facility is never cheap. However, when weighing your budget for ergonomic equipment, look at how much you spend on workers’ compensation and insurance payments for workplace injuries. An ergonomically-friendly work environment could drastically reduce that expense for you. The upfront costs can quickly pay for themselves in long-term savings by protecting the health and safety of your employees.
Customizing for Ergonomics
Once you understand your ergonomic needs and have allocated your budget, you need equipment that can actually implement your planned changes. For computers, this often requires customizing them to better suit their operating environment, such as adding anti-glare filters to cut through harsh lighting. The best way to implement these customizations is by working with an original equipment manufacturer, or OEM. These partners can add ergonomic features like filters or carrying handles, as well as more powerful processors for high-demand applications, specific I/O ports for compatibility with other devices, and more.
Embrace Ergonomic Designs with Cybernet Manufacturing
Ergonomics in healthcare is more than just wrist pads for keyboards and comfortable shoes; it is a critical design element for equipment, facilities, and procedures. By embracing its design principles, healthcare groups can guarantee the health and safety of both providers and patients.
If your healthcare group needs computers and tablets that are both medical-grade and ergonomically friendly, contact the team at Cybernet Manufacturing. We’d be happy to explain how our devices can be customized with a wide range of ergonomic features, such as anti-glare filters, carrying straps, and more.