Why Ergonomics in Healthcare Matters

A mindful ergonomics healthcare strategy aids healthcare professionals as they bend, reach, lift, chart, push, and stand for extended periods of time. Doctors, nurses, aides, technicians, and administrative staff begin to live healthier lives while you address essential legal and regulatory considerations, such as OSHA and CDC guidelines for compliance and documentation.

Healthcare ergonomics are more important than ever before since medical workers have been in short supply lately, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, many new technologies are available to assist medical staff in avoiding poor, prolonged postures and to reduce physical hazards. These healthcare ergonomic solutions help medical personnel feel at their best even when short-staffed at work.

How to Know You Need a Healthcare Ergonomics Assessment

Your medical organization could likely benefit from improved healthcare ergonomics if you or your employees are witnessing any of the following:

Persistent body aches or stiffness
Frequent fatigue during the workday
Difficulty staying focused during shifts
Awkwardly arranged and non-adjustable workstations
Manual patient handling in challenging situations
Staff leaning over push carts or struggling to maintain straight paths
Employee or patient complaints about safety

The Steps Included in an Ergonomics Healthcare Assessment

A healthcare ergonomics assessment typically begins with a facility walkthrough and employee interviews. We’ll conduct a force analysis for heavy manual handling tasks and inspect the current healthcare ergonomics equipment you use at your facility. A typical ergonomic checklist for clinical and administrative areas involves checking workstation adjustability, safe patient handling equipment, access to supplies, flooring safety, and the lighting available.

From there, we’ll provide gap analysis between current and available tools while offering relevant healthcare ergonomics training for you and your staff.

How Our Assessment Process Works

At Postured Ergonomics, we ensure that our healthcare ergonomics assessments are simple, accessible, and cost-effective.

Here’s an overview of how our process works to improve your ergonomics in healthcare settings:

Schedule your assessment with us.
Complete our pre-assessment checklist to provide basic information.
Join a virtual 30-minute evaluation right from your facility – no downtime required for your staff.
Our Board Certified Professional Ergonomist will visually inspect and evaluate your workspaces.
We’ll discuss the risk factors we observe that are causing pain, fatigue, and inefficiencies.
You’ll get immediate recommendations and a personalized action plan with instantly implementable solutions.
We’ll follow up with you to ensure you’ve successfully implemented the changes and your staff are feeling happy and healthy.

Common Healthcare Ergonomic Risks and Solutions

Patient handling is one of the top causes of pain and injuries within the healthcare sector. Transporting patients can be unpredictable, and the implied forces can be far greater than with a fixed object of the same weight.

Another significant factor is that many times these lifts are performed after long periods of being sedentary. As with most sedentary postures, this can set a healthcare worker up for injury because of the soft-tissue tension it contributes to. Most hospitals and healthcare groups have policies against manual patient handling within their healthcare ergonomics programs, but usually these are only administrative controls.

Additionally, if the correct equipment isn’t readily available, healthcare staff may avoid these administrative controls just to get the job done. Training your staff on the use of ergonomic devices, such as patient lift systems, and having them readily available will significantly reduce these risks within your ergonomics in healthcare initiatives. This combination of training and proper equipment applies to almost every industry’s ergonomics programs; however, one without the other significantly reduces your ROI.

At Postured Ergonomics, we have experience guiding healthcare ergonomics programs and have created custom designs for several common departments. Here are a few examples:

NSF-compliant kitchen prep tables for Palomar Health Systems
Industrial height-adjustable workstation for prosthetics fabrication and assembly
Custom transfer devices for heavy SPD carts
Custom trash and cleaning carts

Benefits of a Professional Ergonomics in Healthcare Assessment

Implementing a robust healthcare ergonomics program at your facility is the best way to stay ahead of ergonomics injuries and poor worker morale. The measurable results of a healthcare ergonomics program include:

Reduced discomfort, strain, and workplace injuries
Higher energy levels and morale across departments
Greater employee focus with fewer errors and higher-quality patient care
Lower long-term musculoskeletal injury risk

The strongest programs focus on cross-functional teams that involve individuals from a wide variety of departments throughout your hospital group, including safety, finance, engineering, environmental sciences, and purchasing departments. Having this team led by a Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE) helps you get the best results. An experienced CPE can share all the best information on the latest technical reports and innovative engineering designs, which is especially helpful if your team is in the “fix-it” stage of the healthcare ergonomics process.

Why Choose Postured Ergonomics for Your Medical Facility Ergonomic Assessment

Postured Ergonomics has extensive experience in the healthcare ergonomics field and knows the most effective ways to integrate ergonomics in healthcare settings. Our lead ergonomist, Luke Curtis, CPE, has worked with numerous healthcare facilities in the San Diego area, including the following:

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Palomar Health Systems
Imperial Beach Community Clinic
San Ysidro Health
And several others

Ergonomic Assessments for the Healthcare Industry