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Published January 20, 2014 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Anthropometry Evaluation Using Analytical Hierarchical Process and Independent Test Method for Hospital Bed Design: A Case Study in Nigeria

Creators

  • 1. Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Afe Babalola University.

Description

 To address the problems of errors in health care and serious safety issues, fundamental changes of health care processes, culture, and the physical environment are necessary and need to be aligned, so that the caregivers and the resources that support them are set up for enabling safe care. The study is aimed at evaluating the relationship between patient physical demands (problems) and hospital beds design using anthropometric factors and to determine which anthropometric factor is majorly responsible for patients’ physical demand.      A survey was conducted using 30 patients of equal sex randomly. Independent Test was used to evaluate the relationship between patient physical demands (back pain, fatigue, poor blood circulation and sleep discomfort) and anthropometric factors (stature, elbow span, popliteal height and vertical grip reach) used in the bed design. Analytical Hierarchial Process (AHP) was also conducted for the anthropometric factors to determine which factor is most responsible for these physical demands.          The results from the Independent Test and Analytical Hierarchial Process show that patient’s physical demands are extremely related to anthropometric factors. Also, stature which is equivalent to bed length in design is the major cause of back pain in patient. These physical demands were as a result of not considering anthropometric dimensions before design, leading to poor ergonomic design of hospital beds. It is therefore recommended that anthropometric data of users of any particular work station should be taken into consideration before any design is embarks on by design engineers. This will enhance the comfort and health safety of the users. 

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