ErgoANSWERSTM for Hospitals
Hospitals are having difficulty finding and keeping nurses. They are also experiencing significant problems with injuries to their staffs. These injuries are reducing nurse effectiveness and productivity and keeping many of them off the job or forcing them to leave the profession. Many of the injuries are caused by lifting and assisting patients. As the problems get worse, patients are also getting larger and heavier.
Now with the advent of electronic records systems, there is another avenue for increasing injuries. Computer workstation musculoskeletal disorders like neck and back pain, tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome are attacking the nurses and the doctors. This problem is due in large part to the introduction of the new computer systems requiring nurses and doctors to spend much more time working with computers. In many cases very little if any thought has gone into the proper design and use of the stations these computers are placed on.
Health care IT solutions are often purchased, installed and used with little attention paid to workplace ergonomics issues, and consequently the risks of computer related injuries are growing! Health care is now the 2nd riskiest occupational sector for a work-related musculoskeletal injury. Systems are only as good as the weakest link – the human factor!
Let ErgoANSWERSTM help you use evidence based design to identify the computer related and lifting challenges you are facing. Engineering and designing out biomechanical problems before they are placed on your floor with your employees will improve the work experience. That work experience improvement will result in reduced injuries, reduced errors, lower employee turnover and improved morale that will in better care for your patients.