Valipoor Shabboo, Pati Debajyoti, Stock Matt S, Bazuin Doug
a Department of Interior Design, College of Design, Construction and Planning , University of Florida , Gainesville , FL , USA.
b Department of Design, College of Human Sciences , Texas Tech University , Lubbock , TX , USA.
Ergonomics. 2018 Jul;61(7):902-912. doi: 10.1080/00140139.2018.1427804. Epub 2018 Jan 23.
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.
医院中绝大多数患者跌倒事件都涉及老年人。在住院护理环境中，尽管存在跌倒风险，但仍鼓励患者下床，在病房内走动，并坐在椅子上以促进康复。尽管患者座椅设计在改善康复方面起着至关重要的作用，但很少有研究探讨安全患者座椅的人体工程学要求。本研究调查了在一把测试椅上操纵扶手的水平和垂直位置对15名老年女性从站立到坐下再到站立（St-Si-St）转换过程中所需体力的影响。使用以下方法测量体力：（1）表面肌电图（sEMG）；（2）通过测力传感器测量力；（3）视频记录。研究结果表明，由于扶手高度和距离的变化，所需体力呈现非线性变化模式。还发现，与典型患者座椅相比，扶手更高且间距更远时所需体力最小。从业者总结：安全的座椅对住院患者的康复至关重要，但其人体工程学特征尚未得到研究。使用肌电图、力测量和视频记录研究了座椅扶手变化对所需体力的影响。对于老年患者来说，扶手比典型患者座椅更高且间距更远的椅子可能更安全。
