Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan CYK(1), Chan PYK(1), Louie TMF(1), Leung KY(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Occupational Therapy Department, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital (AHNH)
Introduction :
Chronic renal failure is a rising burden on healthcare system. Thousands of renal failure survivors receive hemodialysis (HD) three times weekly which induced substantial workload to healthcare workers. To ensure patient safety and prevent fluid leakage during HD, multiple valves or knobs on hemodialyzer have to be sealed tightly manually. Frequent use of hemodialyzer induces repetitive strain injury, resulting in complaints of joint pain of hands from staff. The situation led to the development of various 3D printed devices to enhance occupational safety and health for staff with the aims of joint pain and fatigue prevention and ease safe operation of hemodialyzer. Feedback was collected to finalize the design of the 3 most commonly used devices for hemodialyzer operation, namely (1) multipurpose screwdriver, (2) clamp assist and (3) hemodialyzer disc enhancer.
Objectives :
To evaluate effectiveness of 3D printed devices to reduce pain over hand while operating hemodialyzer.
Methodology :
Nine staff were recruited by convenient sampling in renal HD ward of AHNH in November and December 2021. 3D printed devices were prescribed to subjects for operating hemodialyzer. A questionnaire was designed to collect user feedback on pain or fatigue prevention, ease of operation, comfort and satisfaction score.
Result & Outcome :
All subjects completed the trial and submitted the questionnaire. Subjects were asked to rate the degree of agreement using 5-level categorical scales ranging from totally disagree to totally agree. For comfort and prevention of pain or fatigue, 22% rated totally agree and 78% rated agree. For ease of operation, 11% rated totally agree, 78% rated agree and 11% rated neutral. The mean overall satisfaction score was 8.2 (SD=0.52), which ranged from 1 to 10 with the highest score indicating highest satisfaction.
The responses from subjects suggested that the 3D printed devices could effectively prevent pain and fatigue of hands while operating hemodialyzer, and practical application of devices was easy. This study also provides insight into the application of advanced technology by occupational therapists to other domains such as occupational safety and health. In future, the application of the 3D printed devices could generalize to enhance self-management of patients who were conducting home HD.
