The Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) and SEIPS 2.0 models provide a framework for integrating Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) in health care quality and patient safety ...improvement. As care becomes increasingly distributed over space and time, the “process” component of the SEIPS model needs to evolve and represent this additional complexity. In this paper, we review different ways that the process component of the SEIPS models have been described and applied. We then propose the SEIPS 3.0 model, which expands the process component, using the concept of the patient journey to describe the spatio-temporal distribution of patients’ interactions with multiple care settings over time. This new SEIPS 3.0 sociotechnical systems approach to the patient journey and patient safety poses several conceptual and methodological challenges to HFE researchers and professionals, including the need to consider multiple perspectives, issues with genuine participation, and HFE work at the boundaries.
•The patient journey represents patient interactions with multiple health care contexts distributed over space and time.•The patient journey is composed of multiple local work systems embedded in interconnected care settings.•Improving safety in the patient journey poses challenges for HFE, e.g. genuine participation of multiple stakeholders.
This paper presents a conceptual framework that can support efforts to integrate human factors (HF) into the work system design process, where improved and cost-effective application of HF is ...possible. The framework advocates strategies of broad stakeholder participation, linking of performance and health goals, and process focussed change tools that can help practitioners engage in improvements to embed HF into a firm's work system design process. Recommended tools include business process mapping of the design process, implementing design criteria, using cognitive mapping to connect to managers' strategic goals, tactical use of training and adopting virtual HF (VHF) tools to support the integration effort. Consistent with organisational change research, the framework provides guidance but does not suggest a strict set of steps. This allows more adaptability for the practitioner who must navigate within a particular organisational context to secure support for embedding HF into the design process for improved operator wellbeing and system performance.
Practitioner Summary: There has been little scientific literature about how a practitioner might integrate HF into a company's work system design process. This paper proposes a framework for this effort by presenting a coherent conceptual framework, process tools, design tools and procedural advice that can be adapted for a target organisation.
Work ergonomics is considered one of the important issues in every organisation because it is related to employees’ safety and health. The statistics recorded by the Department of Occupational Safety ...and Health (DOSH), Malaysia, showed an increasing number of accidents in the workplace related to the hotel and tourism industry. Thus, this study aims to examine the relationship between work ergonomics, including physical ergonomics, organisational ergonomics, and cognitive ergonomics, with employee performance. To conduct this study, the researchers will collect data from primary sources. The researchers will randomly distribute the questionnaire to those working in the hotel and tourism industry in Malaysia. All data will be analysed using Smart PLS. The study findings will be clarified using frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation, and multiple regression analysis.
Advances in virtual reality technology present new opportunities for human factors research in areas that are dangerous, difficult, or expensive to study in the real world. The authors developed a ...new pedestrian simulator using the HTC Vive head mounted display and Unity software. Pedestrian head position and orientation were tracked as participants attempted to safely cross a virtual signalized intersection (5.5 m). In 10% of 60 trials, a vehicle violated the traffic signal and in 10.84% of these trials, a collision between the vehicle and the pedestrian was observed. Approximately 11% of the participants experienced simulator sickness and withdrew from the study. Objective measures, including the average walking speed, indicate that participant behavior in VR matches published real world norms. Subjective responses indicate that the virtual environment was realistic and engaging. Overall, the study results confirm the effectiveness of the new virtual reality technology for research on full motion tasks.
•Advances in virtual reality technology present new opportunities for human factors research.•The HTC Vive head mounted display would be an effective tool for pedestrian behavior research on full motion tasks.•Subjective responses indicated that the virtual environment was realistic and engaging.•Objective measures indicated that participant behavior in VR matches previously published real world norms.
Healthcare practitioners, patient safety leaders, educators and researchers increasingly recognise the value of human factors/ergonomics and make use of the discipline's person-centred models of ...sociotechnical systems. This paper first reviews one of the most widely used healthcare human factors systems models, the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model, and then introduces an extended model, 'SEIPS 2.0'. SEIPS 2.0 incorporates three novel concepts into the original model: configuration, engagement and adaptation. The concept of configuration highlights the dynamic, hierarchical and interactive properties of sociotechnical systems, making it possible to depict how health-related performance is shaped at 'a moment in time'. Engagement conveys that various individuals and teams can perform health-related activities separately and collaboratively. Engaged individuals often include patients, family caregivers and other non-professionals. Adaptation is introduced as a feedback mechanism that explains how dynamic systems evolve in planned and unplanned ways. Key implications and future directions for human factors research in healthcare are discussed.
Practitioner Summary: SEIPS 2.0 is a new human factors/ergonomics framework for studying and improving health and healthcare. It describes how sociotechnical systems shape health-related work done by professionals and non-professionals, independently and collaboratively. Work processes, in turn, shape patient, professional and organisational outcomes. Work systems and processes undergo planned and unplanned adaptations.
Background and Purpose: Dental students and practitioners are frequently prone to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) due to the unawareness of ergonomic principles when practicing ...dentistry. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge about MSDs in dental practitioners. Materials and Methods: A self-administered 28-item online questionnaire study was conducted among 100 dental practitioners. The study questionnaire captured demographic details of the participants as well as knowledge of ergonomic practices and MSDs and the nature of treatment. Descriptive analysis was done wherein the qualitative variables were expressed as percentages and proportions, whereas quantitative data were expressed as mean and standard deviation. The Chi-square test was used to check statistical associations and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: All the participants practiced four-handed dentistry. Only 12% of the responders stated that the ideal position for treating the maxillary arch in patient as supine, whereas 86% responded as semi-supine and 2% as sitting position. Similarly, 97% of the responders rightly answered that the ideal position for treating mandibular arch in patient as semi-supine. Forty percentage of them answered correctly that the word ergonomics means work and law. Seventy-two percentage of the responders think that knowing ergonomics is useful in routine dental practice. Fifty-eight percentage of the dentists believe that stretching exercise during work will reduce muscle tension and stress. Conclusion: The present study provides an insight into ergonomics for dental students during routine dental procedures. Hence, emphasis on providing ergonomic principles both theoretically and practically to dental health-care professionals must be placed in all educational institutions and at continuing dental health programs, and it should be included in the curriculum.
Construction jobs are more labor-intensive compared to other industries. As such, construction workers are often required to exceed their natural physical capability to cope with the increasing ...complexity and challenges in this industry. Over long periods of time, this sustained physical labor causes bodily injuries to the workers which in turn, conveys huge losses to the industry in terms of money, time, and productivity. Various safety and health organizations have established rules and regulations that limit the amount and intensity of workers' physical movements to mitigate work-related bodily injuries. A precursor to enforcing and implementing such regulations and improving the ergonomics conditions on the jobsite is to identify physical risks associated with a particular task. Manually assessing a field activity to identify the ergonomic risks is not trivial and often requires extra effort which may render it to be challenging if not impossible. In this paper, a low-cost ubiquitous approach is presented and validated which deploys built-in smartphone sensors to unobtrusively monitor workers’ bodily postures and autonomously identify potential work-related ergonomic risks. Results indicates that measurements of trunk and shoulder flexions of a worker by smartphone sensory data are very close to corresponding measurements by observation. The proposed method is applicable for workers in various occupations who are exposed to WMSDs due to awkward postures. Examples include, but are not limited to industry laborers, carpenters, welders, farmers, health assistants, teachers, and office workers.
•Construction ergonomics can be improved by collecting data at the source level.•Data collection is often intrusive, imprecise, and can cause work interruptions.•In this research, a wearable sensor-based data collection technique was designed.•Data from smartphone sensors were used to unobtrusively analyze body postures.•Designed methods were validated and results were used to assess the ergonomic risk.
Occupational exoskeletons (EXOs) provide the opportunity to reduce fatigue and physical demands, however little is known about adoption and use of such technologies especially among varying company ...sizes and especially small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Ten focus groups (including seven SMEs) were held across the state of Ohio, with participants representing line employees, management, and safety. Employees tried on a variety of EXOs and then participated in discussions focusing on the adoption and use of this new technology at their site. Consistent comments were obtained regarding donning, fitting, dissemination, and use strategies; space constraints related to EXO “footprints”; and potential undesirable impacts of EXO use. Major concerns expressed by participants were task-specific, and were related to costs and work conditions (e.g., humidity, temperature, dust). Overall, individuals from larger companies and diverse SMEs expressed a strong interest in how EXOs could help employees with repetitive tasks that were often difficult to modify or eliminate. Many concerns still exist, though, regarding specific benefits and costs, how to develop training programs on EXO use, and understanding potential adverse effects of EXO use. Findings from this study help capture the perspectives of diverse enterprises toward adopting and using occupational EXOs to reduce the risk of injury.
•Focus groups used to assess adoption potential of occupational exoskeletons (EXOs).•Manufacturing enterprises shared diverse benefits of and barriers to adopting EXOs.•Major benefits related to work tasks difficult to modify or eliminate.•Major concerns included fit, comfort, cost, work conditions, and training needs.•Further evidence is needed on potential adverse effects of EXOs.
This study was conducted to examine the effect of a posture correction–based intervention (with a biofeedback device) on the occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms (MSS) and fatigue among control ...room operators in a petrochemical plant in Iran. A total of 188 office workers (91 in the case group and 97 in the control group) participated at baseline as well as at 6- and 12-month follow-up. A questionnaire survey (including the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory) and direct observations of working postures by using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) method were used. The occurrence of MSS in the shoulders, upper back, neck, and low back areas, as well as the mental and physical dimensions of fatigue were found to be the most common problems. The results showed considerable improvements in working postures (in the neck, trunk, and RULA grand scores) and the occurrence of MSS (particularly in the neck, shoulders, and upper back and low back areas) and fatigue (in particular the mental and physical aspects) after the intervention. The overall mean RULA grand score for the case group was significantly decreased after the intervention (mean scores of 5.1, 4.4, and 4.6 at pre-intervention, post-intervention 1, and post-intervention 2, respectively). A total of 81 operators (89.0%) reported some kind of MSS at baseline, which were reduced to 75 operators (82.4%) and 77 operators (84.6%) at post-interventions 1 and 2, respectively. Significant differences were also found between the pre- and post-intervention scores for the physical fatigue (mean of 12.19, 10.16, and 9.99 at pre-intervention, post-intervention 1, and post-intervention 2, respectively) and mental fatigue (mean of 14.03, 12.05, and 12.16 at pre-intervention, post-intervention 1, and post-intervention 2, respectively) dimensions. The findings confirm the effectiveness of this low-cost, simple, and easy-to-use ergonomic intervention.
•Musculoskeletal symptoms and fatigue were common among control room operators.•Working postures (neck, trunk and RULA grand scores) improved after the intervention.•Neck, shoulder, upper back and low back symptoms decreased after the intervention.•Fatigue (particularly the mental and physical aspects) decreased after the intervention.
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