E-worker postural comfort in the third-workplace: An ergonomic design assessment

The impact of remote work using mobile information and communication technologies on physical health: a systematic review

Remote e-working with information and communication technology (ICT) has long been on the rise, with its implementation accelerated by mandatory working from home regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. This systematic literature review summarises the influencing factors of ICT-based remote e-working (device types, duration of use, user interfaces, etc.) on the physical health (musculoskeletal system and eyes) of knowledge workers. A search in four electronic databases and a manual search in four German journals resulted in 21 articles being included in this review. A bias analysis was conducted for all articles. Unfavourable postures, inappropriate working devices and certain environmental factors may cause a range of physical complaints, even after comparably short periods of time. Mostly, these complaints are greater compared to those experienced when working on a fully equipped stationary computer. Therefore, remote e-working requires careful planning, awareness, and the willingness to embrace working situations that counteract these problems.

Changes in rehabilitation students' clinical placement and clinical competence at graduation during the COVID-19 pandemic: A pilot study

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected physical and occupational therapist education in various ways.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated whether the pandemic changed clinical placement, thus influencing the clinical competence of physical and occupational therapists at a hospital in Japan.

METHODS

Eleven therapists (seven physical and four occupational) participated in this study in April 2021. Clinical placement teaching methods were surveyed using an online questionnaire. The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), comprising attitudinal and technical items, was used to examine clinical competence. The results were calculated as the sum of the attitudinal and technical scores, and the ratios of these scores to the full score were compared using a paired-sample Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

RESULTS

During the pandemic, some schools implemented shortened practical clinical placements. The substituted classes included online-only classes and combined online and face-to-face classes. Regarding clinical competence, scores on the OSCE were mostly high. The median proportion of the total attitudinal score to the perfect score was 100% for all three items (range-of-motion test, muscle strength test, Stroke Impairment Assessment Set). The median proportion of the total technical score to the perfect score ranged from 56.7% to 76.7% for the three items. The ratio of the total attitudinal score to the full score was significantly higher than that of the total technical score to the full score (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Most clinical placements were canceled or partially administered through online learning during the pandemic. This decrease in clinical placements did not affect newly recruited physical and occupational therapists' clinical competence.

Musculoskeletal disorders risk assessment methods: a scoping review from a sex perspective

The evidence points to differences in the impact of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) in males and females due to different exposure to risk factors and inherent characteristics. To identify risks associated with MSDs, ergonomic assessment is carried out by applying various methods. The aim of this scoping review was to determine to what extent ergonomic assessment methods consider sex-related factors and if they were found to do so, to determine the extent of this consideration. A total of 31 papers on 32 ergonomic assessment methods were analysed in the review. Of these 32 methods, only 6 considered sex as an assessment parameter or when interpreting the results. The results revealed that the limited consideration given to the sex factor in ergonomic methods, together with the different impacts of MSDs and their consequences according to a person's sex, supports the importance of including sex factors in ergonomic assessment methods. Practitioner summary: This scoping review determined to what extent ergonomic assessment methods consider sex-related factors and if they do so, to establish the extent of such consideration. Of the 32 methods analysed, only 6 considered a person's sex. The results revealed that only a limited consideration is given to the sex factor in ergonomic methods.