Quantitative Assessment of Surgical Ergonomics in Otolaryngology

Cole P. Rodman · Natalie A. Kelly · Weston L. Niermeyer · Laura Banks · Amanda J. Onwuka · Eric C. Mason +1 more

53 citations0/0 files storedOtolaryngology

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorders Occupational Health and Safety in Workplaces Occupational health in dentistry

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Objective evaluation of the ergonomic risk of common otolaryngology procedures and assessment of work-related musculoskeletal pain and injury. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional intraoperative assessment and survey. SETTING: Department of Otolaryngology at a tertiary children's hospital. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Sixteen otolaryngology attendings, fellows, and residents participated in a blinded study. Intraoperative ergonomics was assessed for tonsillectomies, adenoidectomies, and tympanostomy tube insertions using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA). Follow-up surveys were sent to all participating surgeons to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and formal ergonomic training. RESULTS: Zero percent (N = 0/275) of intraoperative observations were found to have a negligible level of ergonomic risk, with 47% low risk, 37% high risk, and 16% very high risk. Tympanostomy tube insertions conferred less risk than tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, while the use of headlamp or loupes conferred increased risk. Eighty percent of respondents reported having musculoskeletal pain and 40% reported experiencing pain while operating within the past year. The most common area of pain was the cervical spine. No surgeons reported formal ergonomic training. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates an unacceptable level of ergonomic risk for common procedures in otolaryngology. Furthermore, most participants reported experiencing musculoskeletal pain despite the duration of examined procedures being relatively short. The high prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal pain and the lack of ergonomic training in our cohort highlight the need for increased awareness of ergonomics as well as the development of formal ergonomic curricula.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 53 citations exist upstream.

References

1987Standardised Nordic questionnaires for the analysis of musculoskeletal symptoms 1993RULA: a survey method for the investigation of work-related upper limb disorders 1981Ambulatory surgery in the United States 2018Surgeon symptoms, strain, and selections: Systematic review and meta-analysis of surgical ergonomics 2017Ergonomics in Surgery: A Review 2014Musculoskeletal occupational injury among surgeons: effects for patients, providers, and institutions 2003Prevalence of back and neck pain amongst ENT consultants: national survey 2011Work environment discomfort and injury: an ergonomic survey study of the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology members

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.