Presentation
HE8 - Impact of Equipment and the Physical Environment on Work-Related Injuries: Perspectives and Priority Setting among Sonographers
DescriptionBackground: Sonography, a vital medical imaging profession, has a high prevalence of work-related injury resulting from interactions among workers, their equipment, and the physical environment as imaging tasks are completed. Although many research studies have been conducted to explore and describe the interactions among these factors and their relationship to worker health and well-being, there is limited first-person information from the workforce to understand their perspectives. Thus, we aimed to explore how sonographers perceive the impact of equipment and environmental conditions on their health and prioritize improvements for sonography workplaces. Integrating these perspectives with other evidence of the associations to work-related injury can enable clinicians, administrators, and researchers to target the most critical equipment and workplace physical environment factors for maximizing the health and well-being of sonographers and, thus, improving the quality of care that these professionals offer to patients.
Methods: We employed a multi-method convergent approach with quantitative and qualitative data to comprehensively investigate perceptions and prioritization of equipment and physical environment factors relative to the health and well-being of sonographers. An invitation to complete an online survey was sent to a cohort of 3,659 North American sonographers participating in a longitudinal study. The questionnaire included structured quantitative and open-ended qualitative questions to capture sonographers’ perspectives and experiences with equipment and workplace physical environment factors. Specifically, given a list of factors, respondents rated the degree of impact each factor has on health and well-being and how important resource allocation is to improve the factor, and respondents ranked the list of factors by order of priority for improvement. Open-ended questions allowed respondents to provide additional perspectives and potential solutions for improvements. We calculated descriptive statistics for ratings of impact and resource allocation among the factors and developed a final prioritized list for implementation. We examined differences in these ratings and rankings between sonographers practicing in various specialties (e.g., cardiac, vascular, obstetrics) and among those with musculoskeletal discomfort. We completed an exploratory descriptive open-coding process to identify emerging themes that confirmed or contradicted the quantitative findings or provided useful suggestions for improvements.
Results: We included data from 1314 sonographers, most of whom worked in hospitals (58.6%) on a full-time schedule (76.8%) and conducted either vascular (55.8%), obstetrics and gynecology (53.2%), or abdominal (45.5%) exams. Our preliminary analysis of the qualitative and quantitative results indicates that the configuration of exam room furniture and the design of sonography machines exhibited the strongest associations with sonographer health and well-being. 30.7% of sonographers identified sonography machine design as an immediate improvement target, and 32.9% identified exam room furniture, layout, or design as an immediate improvement target. On the other hand, factors related to exam room environmental conditions and workstation setups for administrative tasks exhibited weaker associations with sonographer health in both the qualitative and quantitative data. Only 5.3% of sonographers identified workstation set-up for administrative tasks as an immediate improvement target, and only 9.6% identified exam room environmental conditions as an immediate target for improvements. Distinct preferences were noted among different sonographers. For example, individuals conducting obstetrics and gynecology exams and those reporting elbow and forearm discomfort were more likely to identify transducer design as an immediate target for improvement. In the open-ended responses, sonographers highlighted a desire to actively participate in the decision-making process for resource allocation. The sonographers also expanded upon their suggestions for exam room and sonography machine design improvements. They expressed preferences for adjustable equipment and workplace physical environments as well as less cluttered and more open work spaces.
Conclusion: This study identifies priorities for sonography machine design, transducer design, and exam room layout to maximize sonographer health and well-being. Sonographers indicated a preference for being actively engaged in decisions about equipment and workplace physical environment factors. Thus, in efforts to address these concerns, sonographers, administrators, and manufacturers should consider participatory approaches. Our findings align with the goal of enhancing sonographer well-being and professional satisfaction, making a valuable contribution to human factors and ergonomics practices.
Methods: We employed a multi-method convergent approach with quantitative and qualitative data to comprehensively investigate perceptions and prioritization of equipment and physical environment factors relative to the health and well-being of sonographers. An invitation to complete an online survey was sent to a cohort of 3,659 North American sonographers participating in a longitudinal study. The questionnaire included structured quantitative and open-ended qualitative questions to capture sonographers’ perspectives and experiences with equipment and workplace physical environment factors. Specifically, given a list of factors, respondents rated the degree of impact each factor has on health and well-being and how important resource allocation is to improve the factor, and respondents ranked the list of factors by order of priority for improvement. Open-ended questions allowed respondents to provide additional perspectives and potential solutions for improvements. We calculated descriptive statistics for ratings of impact and resource allocation among the factors and developed a final prioritized list for implementation. We examined differences in these ratings and rankings between sonographers practicing in various specialties (e.g., cardiac, vascular, obstetrics) and among those with musculoskeletal discomfort. We completed an exploratory descriptive open-coding process to identify emerging themes that confirmed or contradicted the quantitative findings or provided useful suggestions for improvements.
Results: We included data from 1314 sonographers, most of whom worked in hospitals (58.6%) on a full-time schedule (76.8%) and conducted either vascular (55.8%), obstetrics and gynecology (53.2%), or abdominal (45.5%) exams. Our preliminary analysis of the qualitative and quantitative results indicates that the configuration of exam room furniture and the design of sonography machines exhibited the strongest associations with sonographer health and well-being. 30.7% of sonographers identified sonography machine design as an immediate improvement target, and 32.9% identified exam room furniture, layout, or design as an immediate improvement target. On the other hand, factors related to exam room environmental conditions and workstation setups for administrative tasks exhibited weaker associations with sonographer health in both the qualitative and quantitative data. Only 5.3% of sonographers identified workstation set-up for administrative tasks as an immediate improvement target, and only 9.6% identified exam room environmental conditions as an immediate target for improvements. Distinct preferences were noted among different sonographers. For example, individuals conducting obstetrics and gynecology exams and those reporting elbow and forearm discomfort were more likely to identify transducer design as an immediate target for improvement. In the open-ended responses, sonographers highlighted a desire to actively participate in the decision-making process for resource allocation. The sonographers also expanded upon their suggestions for exam room and sonography machine design improvements. They expressed preferences for adjustable equipment and workplace physical environments as well as less cluttered and more open work spaces.
Conclusion: This study identifies priorities for sonography machine design, transducer design, and exam room layout to maximize sonographer health and well-being. Sonographers indicated a preference for being actively engaged in decisions about equipment and workplace physical environment factors. Thus, in efforts to address these concerns, sonographers, administrators, and manufacturers should consider participatory approaches. Our findings align with the goal of enhancing sonographer well-being and professional satisfaction, making a valuable contribution to human factors and ergonomics practices.
Event Type
Poster Presentation
TimeMonday, March 254:45pm - 6:15pm CDT
LocationSalon C
Digital Health
Simulation and Education
Hospital Environments
Medical and Drug Delivery Devices
Patient Safety Research and Initiatives