Publication: Reducing work-related injuries: a comparative analysis of patient transfer devices for healthcare professional
| datacite.subject.fos | oecd::Engineering and technology::Mechanical engineering | |
| dc.contributor.author | Mitchelle Law Jyy Jinn | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-05-19T03:08:42Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-05-19T03:08:42Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023-09-01 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are a common problem among healthcare workers. For WMSDs risks assessment, the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) is widely used. However, previous studies have used a constant estimated external force as load input in REBA, which does not consider the load variations due to patient and nurse postural changes. A method to input the actual load to REBA through instantaneous measurement is needed. Despite the risk-reducing benefits, the adoption rates for patient transfer devices are still low. Surveys are prone to cognitive judgement and biases and cannot capture instantaneous user emotions. Emotional evaluation of patient transfer devices has not been done before. Whether an evaluation tool of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) can capture both perceived workload and instantaneous emotions, or whether facial expression analysis is necessary to quantify emotions, is unknown. This thesis aimed to identify the WMSDs risks of patient transfer devices through REBA with instantaneous measured force, to quantify the nurses' perceived workload, technology acceptance, and instantaneous emotional states during the use of patient transfer devices, and to quantify the relationship between the perceived workloads and instantaneous emotions via facial expression. Seven nurses were recruited to carry out tasks using a sliding board, motorised transfer, walking belt, and floor lift. The postural and ground reaction force data were used for the calculation of external load as load input for the REBA system. User experience was obtained through a technology acceptance questionnaire, NASA-TLX, and facial expression analysis. Motorised transfer obtained the lowest REBA score (3.33 ± 0.56), and floor lift as an intervention, still reported high REBA scores (7.73 ± 0.51). The motorised transfer had a higher technological acceptance (p = 0.016) and lower perceived workload (p = 0.004) than the sliding board. The floor lift significantly reduced perceived workload compared to the walking belt (p = 0.018), but acceptance scores did not significantly differ (p= 0.098). Despite good feedback on the interventions for the NASA-TLX and technology acceptance surveys, all devices, including the motorised transfer and floor lift, showed a high negative valence of over 80 in facial expression analysis. The motorised transfer had relatively better valence scores (82.87 ±12.60), while the floor lift had the highest negative valence (99.16±1.93). This study contributes to WMSDs risk assessment by using REBA with instantaneous measured force and introducing facial expression analysis to understand user emotions while using patient transfer assistive devices. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://erepo.usm.my/handle/123456789/21687 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.title | Reducing work-related injuries: a comparative analysis of patient transfer devices for healthcare professional | |
| dc.type | Resource Types::text::thesis::doctoral thesis | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| oairecerif.author.affiliation | Universiti Sains Malaysia |