Application of Ergonomic Principles in Clinical Practice: An Observational Study Among Dental Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15517/v94md870Keywords:
Ergonomics; Dental students; Clinical training; Education.Abstract
The objective of the present study was to assess the application of ergonomics among undergraduate dental students at the University Dental Hospital Sharjah. The study also intended to compare application of ergonomic principles among fourth and fifth year dental students, and predict the risk of musculo-skeletal disorders for each group based on the RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) method. Eighty-four participants of this observational study were evaluated for ergonomic risk factors by obtaining data in the form of static photographs of dental students in their fourth and fifth years at UDHS. These images were then analyzed by the observers to determine musculo-skeletal risk using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) worksheet. The dependent variables were the risk scores obtained from the RULA worksheet, which evaluated the risk of WMS and/or WMSD for the dental students. Conversely, the students' work postures, movement repetition, static muscle work, and associated loads, were considered the independent variables. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the statistical significance between both year groups. The overall final RULA scores showed that fourth year dental students had a higher mean ranking (score =1980.5) than fifth year dental students (score=1589.5), which was statistically significant (P=0.009), thereby placing them at a higher risk of developing musculo-skeletal diseases due to their ergonomics. The overall RULA scores of both groups portrayed that the 4th year participants were in the medium-risk category of developing WMSDs as a result of their working postures, whereas the 5th year participants were in the low-risk category.
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