Evaluation of Nigerian hospital meal carts

Subject Areas : Mathematical Optimization

Sesan P. Ayodeji ¹ (Department of Industrial Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa)
Michael K. Adeyeri ² (Department of Industrial Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa)
Olaoluwa Omoniyi ³ (Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria)

Received: 2020-10-03 Accepted : 2020-10-03 Published : 2015-09-01

Keywords: Hospital . Nigeria . Meal cart . Ergonomics,

Abstract :

Hospital meal carts are used to deliver meals, drugs and some other materials to patients in the hospital environment. These carts which are moved manually by operators, the health workers, mostly do not comply with ergonomics guidelines and physical requirements of the equipment users in terms of anthropometry data of the region thus increasing the risk of musculoskeletal disorder among the meal cart users. This study carried out ergonomic evaluation of the available meal carts in some western Nigeria hospitals. A well-structured questionnaire has two major segments: Operational survey and biomechanical survey, which were administered to the health workers using hospital meal carts in some hospitals in southwestern Nigeria, and physical assessment, which was undertaken to collect data for the ergonomic evaluation. The responses from the questionnaires show that some areas on the existing hospital meal carts are of concern to the users which need to be improved upon.