The businesscase for ergonomic changes in health care: calculating and predicting financial outcome for ergonomic changes and innovations in health care: interactive businesscase modelling

Abstract

Research can point to new opportunities and assist in the development of valid business cases to help nurse managers plan change and allocate their budgets to the most promising interventions. These business cases and their results will, in turn, pave the way for more in depth and more fundamental research into implementation processes. It will add to the body of knowledge of intervention research and ultimately hopefully also add to our understanding of why ergonomic interventions in the workplace will or will not be effective and what the impact of financial constraints is. It is difficult to develop and design a valid businesscase. This poster will present one of the possible strategies to develop one.

Individual and organisational determinants of use of ergonomic devices in healthcare

“…Real-time observations were conducted to assess patient handling activities in relation to the demands of national practice guidelines developed by the healthcare sector. 17 18 A checklist was used to collect information about the types of ergonomic devices and the necessity for ergonomic devices. The different ergonomic devices assessed during patient handling activities were lifting devices for transferring a patient, an electrically operated adjustable bed and adjustable shower chair for use during personal care, an electrically operated adjustable bed and slide sheet for repositioning a patient in bed, and a compression stocking slide for putting on and taking off anti-embolism stockings.…”

“…An adjustable bed is used to reduce awkward trunk postures, but can also eliminate the need for a transfer and/or reduce the power required for a transfer, while a slide sheet is a friction-reducing device aimed to reduce the manual forces required. 18 …”

“…The requirement for and actual use of the ergonomic devices were assessed according to national practice guidelines developed by the healthcare sector. 17 18 The criteria for use of specific ergonomic devices during patient handling activities are based on the functional mobility of the patients. Three levels can be distinguished: (1) patients who are able to perform activities by themselves; (2) patients who are able to assist and contribute actively, but unable to perform the activity on their own; and (3) patients who are passive with no or very little contribution to the required movements.…”

“…A compression stocking slide should always be used for putting on and taking off patient anti-embolism stockings, independent of the functional mobility of the patient. 18 For each patient a specific protocol is available stating when an ergonomic device should be used, whereby the patient's functional mobility is linked to the national practice guidelines for use of ergonomic devices in specific situations. In the absence of this information, nurses were asked to provide information about functional mobility to assess the requirement for an ergonomic device relative to the patient's characteristics.…”

Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the risk assessment instrument TilThermometer for a Swedish version – patient handling in the healthcare sector

“…The result from the risk assessment is related to the Guideline for practice (“Practice guidelines”), and preventive measures are based on guideline and the technical report that covers aspects of manual handling of patients in the healthcare sector, ISO TR 122,996 [ 15 ]. In the Netherlands, the use of the TilThermometer has indicated reduced incidence of low back pain for HCWs in the healthcare sector [ 20 ].…”