Ergonomic Evaluation of a New Patient-Handling Device

Abstract

Nursing and personal care is one of the fastest growing but also most injurious U.S. industries. The majority of these injuries is due to patient handling and can be mitigated through the use of various assist devices. One such novel device, the Williamson turn stand, was evaluated and compared to the traditional manual walking belt as well as the more elaborate Hoyer-type lift. Averaged data from 6 healthy subjects across five dependent variables (shoulder EMG, low back EMG, low back compressive force, Borg's rating of perceived exertion and task completion time) indicated that the turn stand was ranked in the middle of the three devices; i.e. it required less effort than the walking belt, but more effort than using a lift device. On the other hand, it was quicker than the lift but not as fast as the purely manual walking belt. Overall the turn stand is an effective patient-handling device for weight-bearing individuals.