Do the Same Factors Affect use and Non-Use of Safety Equipment?

Abstract

Safety equipment is often specified by human factors engineers/ergonomists, but it is not always used in practice. Thus, safety belts in cars and patient transfer devices in nursing homes are not universally used despite proofs of their effectiveness and (at times) rules governing their usage. This study was performed in several nursing homes and hospitals to determine whether similar reasons were given for Use or Non-Use of patient transfer equipment by nurses. We tested 30 nurses in the first phase to determine typical reasons for Use and Non-Use, followed by testing 47 nurses using rating scales for the reasons given in a second phase. We also measured actual use of patient transfer equipment, which was low at 40%, nurse demographics and reported back pain. The main finding was that different factors were reliably associated with Use versus Non-Use of the equipment. The strongest factor in Use was enforcement of requirements. Speed of operation was the weakest factor in the Non-Use decision. Such dissociation of positive and negative factors is not uncommon in rating scale data.