Safer Chairs For Elderly Patients: Design Evaluation Using Electromyography And Force Measurement

A vast majority of patient fall events in hospitals involve the elderly. In inpatient care settings, despite the risk of fall, patients are encouraged to leave their bed, move around their room, and sit on their chair to progress in their healing. Despite the vital role of patient chair design in improving recovery, few studies have examined the ergonomic requirements of safe patient chairs. This study examined the impact of manipulating horizontal and vertical positions of armrests in a test chair on required physical effort during Stand-to-Sit-to-Stand (St-Si-St) transitions among 15 elderly women. Physical effort was measured using: (1) surface electromyography (sEMG); (2) force measurement by load cells; (3) video recording. Findings showed non-linear patterns of change in required physical effort due to changes in armrests’ height and distance. It was also found that minimum effort is associated with armrests higher and farther apart than those in typical patient chairs. Practitioner Summary: Safe chairs are essential for inpatient recovery, yet their ergonomic features are not investigated. Impact of changes in chair armrests on required physical effort was examined using electromyography, force measurement and video recording. Armrests higher and farther apart than those in typical patient chairs may be safer for elderly patients

Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-her-10.1177_19375867241244468 - Preliminary Development of Items for a Nurses’ Physical Environmental Stress Scale

Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-her-10.1177_19375867241244468 for Preliminary Development of Items for a Nurses’ Physical Environmental Stress Scale by Dagmar Rittenbacher, Sheila J. Bosch, Shabboo Valipoor and Lesa Lorusso in HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal</p

Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-2-her-10.1177_19375867241244468 - Preliminary Development of Items for a Nurses’ Physical Environmental Stress Scale

Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-2-her-10.1177_19375867241244468 for Preliminary Development of Items for a Nurses’ Physical Environmental Stress Scale by Dagmar Rittenbacher, Sheila J. Bosch, Shabboo Valipoor and Lesa Lorusso in HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal</p

Physical Design Factors Contributing to Patient Falls.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify physical design elements that contribute to potential falls in patient rooms. METHODS: An exploratory, physical simulation-based approach was adopted for the study. Twenty-seven subjects, older than 70 years (11 male and 16 female subjects), conducted scripted tasks in a mockup of a patient bathroom and clinician zone. Activities were captured using motion-capture technology and video recording. After biomechanical data processing, video clips associated with potential fall moments were extracted and then examined and coded by a group of registered nurses and health care designers. Exploratory analyses of the coded data were conducted followed by a series of multivariate analyses using regression models. RESULTS: In multivariate models with all personal, environmental, and postural variables, only the postural variables demonstrated statistical significance-turning, grabbing, pushing, and pulling in the bathroom and pushing and pulling in the clinician zone. The physical elements/attributes associated with the offending postures include bathroom configuration, intravenous pole, door, toilet seat height, flush, grab bars, over-bed table, and patient chair. CONCLUSIONS: Postural changes, during interactions with the physical environment, constitute the source of most fall events. Physical design must include simultaneous examination of postural changes in day-to-day activities in patient rooms and bathrooms. Among discussed testable recommendations in the article, the followings design strategies should be considered: (a) designing bathrooms to reduce turning as much as possible and (b) designing to avoid motions that involve 2 or more of the offending postures, such as turning and grabbing or grabbing and pulling, and so on