Measuring the Physical Demands of Work in Hospital Settings: Design and Implementation of an Ergonomics Assessment

Details

• Personal Author:
  Blanc PD ; Gillen, Matthew ; Janowitz IL ; Mullen K ; Rempel D ; Rugulies R ; Ryan G ; Swig L ; Trupin L
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Assessing the physical demands of the heterogeneous jobs in hospitals requires appropriate and validated assessment methodologies. METHODS: As part of an integrated assessment, we adapted Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), using it in a work sampling mode facilitated by a hand-held personal digital assistant, expanding it with selected items from the UC Computer Use Checklist, and developed a scoring algorithm for ergonomics risk factors for the upper (UB) and lower body (LB). RESULTS: The inter-rater reliability kappa was 0.54 for UB and 0.66 for LB. The scoring algorithm demonstrated significant variation (ANOVA p<0.05) by occupation in anticipated directions (administrators ranked lowest; support staff ranked highest on both scores). A supplemental self-assessment measure of spinal loading correlated with high strain LB scores (r=0.30; p<0.001). CONCLUSION: We developed and validated a scoring algorithm incorporating a revised REBA schema adding computer use items, appropriate for ergonomics assessment across a range of hospital jobs. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Computers Demography Emergency Responders Engineering Environmental Monitoring Ergonomics Hazardous Substances Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Mental Health Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Stress, Psychological Surveys And Questionnaires Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Ergonomics Assessment Biological-effects Computer-equipment Demographic-characteristics Emergency-responders Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Hand-injuries Hand-tools Health-care-facilities Health-care-personnel Health-hazards Hospitals Medical-facilities Medical-monitoring Medical-personnel Medical-services Medical-surveys Methodology Musculoskeletal-system Musculoskeletal-system-disorders Occupational-exposure Occupational-hazards Occupational-health-nursing Occupational-health-services Occupations Physiological-effects Physiological-measurements Physiological-response Psychological-reactions Psychological-stress Questionnaires Risk-analysis Risk-factors Statistical-analysis Work-areas Work-environment Work-practices

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• ISSN:
  0003-6870
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  37
• Issue:
  5
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20037252
• Citation:
  Appl Ergon 2006 Sep; 37(5):641-658
• Contact Point Address:
  Ira L. Janowitz, University of California San Francisco/Berkeley Ergonomics Program, 1301 South 46th St., Building 163, Richmond, CA 94804
• Email:
  janowitz@earthlink.net
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, Berkeley
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Applied Ergonomics
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ac860e952b284fd62d3b55e200a4ff28d8f0e7bf0f156c1c278f5a061882001f1a94c55448ca2c6c4d1bf7d4fe231d42bbd489910be84bd4d0fce28ee238bf63
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/188370/cdc_188370_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 452.41 KB ]