Analysis, Design and Experimental Research of a Novel Bilateral Patient Transfer Robot

Patient transfer has always been a difficult problem in the hospital. For medical staff, there are problems including high risk of infection, heavy physical labor and low efficiency of transfer; for patients, there are problems including poor comfort and secondary injury. In this paper, a novel bilateral patient transfer robot is investigated and designed. The following tasks are conducted: (1) Based on the process of patient transfer, a transfer model, which consists of two degrees of freedom, is proposed, and the working principle of bilateral patient transfer robot is obtained and analyzed in detail. (2) Force analysis of the patient transfer robot is conducted. The corresponding relationship between the patient comfort and the insertion angle is proposed, and the optimal sizes of mechanical structure are obtained. (3) Based on the theoretical analysis, the mechanical structure and the control system of the robot are designed, and the prototype is manufactured. (4) Experimental research is conducted. The results show that the prototype can complete the required motion performance with a carrying capacity up to 150 kg and patient comfort is excellent. The results of this paper prove that this kind of patient transfer robot has good performance, it can also reduce the burden on medical staff.

Effect of Parameters on Lumbar Compressive Force during Patient Transfer

Patient transfer (PT) tasks are a significant cause of low back pain (LBP) in caregivers. Adopting proper motion strategies is an effective and inexpensive approach to reduce the risk of LBP. However, since the standardization of PT tasks is not specified in ISO 11228, there is an increasing need to develop a quantitative assessment method for the lumbar safety of caregivers. Therefore, we aim to determine the effect of representative factors, extracted from caregivers’ movements and of external force, on peak compressive force (CF) in patient transfer tasks using the lumbar compressive force as a criterion. The CF at the lumbar region is estimated using a biomechanical simulator, and regression analysis is performed between the estimated CF and representative factors. The results imply that peak CF occurs in the incipience of transfer and occurs after the occurrence of the peak trunk angle. The results also indicate that the peak CF can be reduced by preventing the representative factors from simultaneously reaching the maximum values. In this study, we provide a method of reducing peak CF by estimating the timing and magnitude of the peak to help caregivers assess the severity of LBP risk in actual PT, which is expected to contribute to the standardization of PT tasks.

PENGARUH KELENGKAPAN PENGISIAN FORMULIR TRANSFER PASIEN INTERNAL TERHADAP MUTU REKAM MEDIS

Internal patient transfer is the process of transferring patients from one room to another in a hospital while still being oriented towards quality and patient safety. The results of the observations showed that the filling of the internal patient transfer form was not optimal so that there were still incomplete forms due to the large number of patients and the weak coordination between health workers. To determine the effect of the completeness of filling out the internal patient transfer form on the quality of medical records. The research method used is quantitative with a descriptive approach. Data collection techniques used are observation, questionnaires and literature study. The sampling technique was simple random sampling technique so as to obtain a sample of 91 internal patient transfer forms. From the results of observations, 22% of the internal patient transfer forms were found that were not completely filled in, especially in the signature and clear name. The two variables have a strong relationship. The effect of the variable completeness of the internal patient transfer form on the medical record quality variable is 90.1% and the remaining 9.9% is influenced by other factors. Based on these studies, it can be concluded that the lack of accuracy and coordination of nurses, doctors and other officers in filling out internal patient transfer forms so that this affects the quality of medical records in the aspect of accuracy. Keyword : Completeness, Internal Patient Transfer Form, Medical Record Quality Abstrak Transfer pasien internal merupakan proses pemindahan pasien dari satu ruangan ke ruangan yang lain di dalam satu rumah sakit dengan tetap berorientasi pada mutu dan keselamatan pasien. Hasil observasi menunjukkan bahwa belum optimalnya pengisian formulir transfer pasien internal sehingga masih terdapat formulir yang tidak lengkap disebabkan oleh faktor dari banyaknya pasien dan lemahnya koordinasi antara tenaga kesehatan. Untuk mengetahui pengaruh kelengkapan pengisian formulir transfer pasien internal terhadap mutu rekam medis. Metode penelitian yang digunakan yaitu kuantitatif dengan pendekatan deskriptif. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah observasi, kuesioner dan studi pustaka. Teknik pengambilan sampel adalah teknik simple random sampling sehingga memperoleh sampel sebanyak 91 formulir transfer pasien internal. Dari hasil observasi ditemukannya formulir transfer pasien internal yang belum terisi lengkap sebanyak 22% terutama pada tandatangan dan nama jelas. Kedua variabel memiliki hubungan yang kuat. Pengaruh variabel kelengkapan formulir transfer pasien internal terhadap variabel mutu rekam medis sebesar 90,1% dan sisanya 9,9% dipengaruhi oleh faktor lain. Berdasarkan penelitian tersebut dapat disimpulkan bahwa kurangnya ketelitian dan koordinasi perawat, dokter dan petugas lain dalam pengisian formulir transfer pasien internal sehingga hal ini mempengaruhi mutu rekam medis pada aspek keakuratan. Kata kunci: Kelengkapan, Formulir Transfer Pasien Internal, Mutu Rekam Medis

Design and Compliant Control of a Piggyback Transfer Robot

Patient transfer, such as lifting and moving a bedridden patient from a bed to a wheelchair or a pedestal pan, is one of the most physically challenging tasks in nursing care. Although many transfer devices have been developed, they are rarely used because of the large time consumption in performing transfer tasks and the lack of safety and comfortableness. We developed a piggyback transfer robot that can conduct patient transfer by imitating the motion when a person holds another person on his/her back. The robot consisted of a chest holder that moves like a human back. In this paper, we present an active stiffness control approach for the motion control of the chest holder, combined with a passive cushion, for lifting a care-receiver comfortably. A human-robot dynamic model was built and a subjective evaluation was conducted to optimize the parameters of both the active stiffness control and the passive cushion of the chest holder. The test results of 10 subjects demonstrated that the robot could transfer a subject safely and the combination of active stiffness and passive stiffness were essential to a comfortable transfer. The objective evaluation demonstrated that an active stiffness of k= 4 kPa/mm along with a passive stiffness lower than the stiffness of human chest was helpful for a comfort feeling.

Biomechanical Evaluation of Back-Support Exoskeletons during Patient Transfers

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of three back-support exoskeletons (FLx ErgoSkeleton, V22 ErgoSkeleton, Laevo V2.5) and patient transfer methods (Squat pivot, stand pivot, scoot) on the musculoskeletal loading and self-reported usability measures during patient transfers between a bed and a wheelchair. In a repeated-measures laboratory study, 20 experienced caregivers (17 females and 3 males) performed a series of 24 bed-to-wheelchair transfer tasks (2 directions × 4 exoskeleton conditions × 3 patient transfer methods). The trunk flexion and lateral flexion angles, bilateral hand pull forces, and muscle activities of the erector spinae were significantly different by exoskeleton conditions and patient transfer methods (p’s < 0.01). The usability measures were significantly affected by exoskeleton designs (p’s < 0.01). There were significant two-way interaction effects on the trunk flexion and lateral flexion angles and muscle activities of the erector spinae (p’s < 0.01). For the squat pivot method, three back-support exoskeletons showed the largest reduction of erector spinae muscle activities (47.4 to 83.5% reference voluntary contractions) compared to no exoskeleton. This indicated the effects of exoskeleton conditions on the trunk postures and erector spinae muscle activities depended on the patient transfer method. More research could be needed to improve the trunk postures and usability of back-support exoskeletons suitable for patient handling.