Evaluation of a novel stair-climbing transportation aid for emergency medical services.

Autor:	Verjans M; Chair of Medical Engineering, Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany., Schleer P; Chair of Medical Engineering, Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany., Kinzius M; SurgiTAIX AG, Herzogenrath, Germany., Krumholz P; Chair of Medical Engineering, Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany., Phlippen L; Chair of Medical Engineering, Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany., Drobinsky S; Chair of Medical Engineering, Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany., Radermacher K; Chair of Medical Engineering, Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	Biomedizinische Technik. Biomedical engineering [Biomed Tech (Berl)] 2020 Dec 14; Vol. 66 (3), pp. 323-333. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Dec 14 (Print Publication: 2021).
DOI:	10.1515/bmt-2020-0166
Abstrakt:	Acute and planned transportations of patients are major tasks for emergency medical services (EMS) and often result in substantial physical strains with a major impact on the workers' health, because current transportation aids cannot provide sufficient support, especially on stairs. A new stair-climbing and self-balancing approach (SEBARES) has been developed and its usability is evaluated in the context of this paper. Twelve participants operated a prototype in a transportation scenario and user forces, user joint angles and the perceived usability were evaluated. Results show that user forces were within long-term acceptable ergonomic limits for over 90% of the transportation time and a mainly healthy upright posture of the back could be maintained. This resulted in a healthy working posture for 85% of the time, according to the OWAS method, and a good perceived usability. A comparison to the most ergonomic aid according to literature, a caterpillar stair chair, reveals that similar upright postures are assumed, while the operation of SEBARES required only 47% of the forces to operate the caterpillar stair chair. A comparison to a previous field study indicates a reduction of strenuous working postures by a factor of three, which further confirms the ergonomic advantages of this concept. (© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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