Clinical trial NCT05551143: R2P Field Test of the EMS LiftKit: Validating Usability, Usefulness, Desirability, and Effects on Musculoskeletal Injuries in EMS Providers
Official title: R2P Field Test of the EMS LiftKit: Validating Usability, Usefulness, Desirability, and Effects on Musculoskeletal Injuries in EMS Providers Working in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Communities
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Phase: NA
Conditions: Musculoskeletal Disorder
Keywords: EMS
Ergonomics
Musculoskeletal Disorders
Back Injury
Firefighter
Lead sponsor: Ohio State University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2022-09-22
Enrollment: 180
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The long-term goal of our research program is to reduce the high incidence of musculoskeletal injury associated with person-handling tasks performed by EMS providers/responders (NORA Public Safety Industry Sector). The literature shows the significant burden of these injuries, many of which affect the back and are debilitating. There is a need for effective ergonomic tools that can assist EMS providers in the patient handling tasks encountered in patient homes, particularly those patient handling situations that include restricted or tight spaces. To address this need, our prior work identified a set of potential ergonomic solutions, using a participatory process with EMS providers, for physically challenging and frequently occurring patient handling tasks that occur in patient homes. A final product of this prior work was the development of the LiftKit, which is a collection of seven tools that were shown in biomechanical validation studies with EMS providers to effectively reduce physical demands during simulated patient handling tasks in a laboratory setting. The overall objective of this proposed research-to-practice application is to evaluate the LiftKit's seven patient handling tools (interventions) in the field to assess their usability, usefulness, and desirability, as well as their impact with regards to preventing musculoskeletal injuries incurred during EMS patient handling tasks. In this field study, 30 LiftKits will be placed on EMS vehicles that service urban, suburban, and rural communities. Given the three-shift operation used by fire-service based EMS departments, there is the potential to recruit between 180 and 270 EMS providers for the study. Immediately following the training on how to use the tools and at 4, 8, and 12 months following the training, participants will be interviewed and questioned about each tools' usability, usefulness, and desirability. Frequency of each tool's use will be assessed with a questionnaire at the time of the interview and a daily Run-Use survey tool. Musculoskeletal injury data due to patient handling tasks during the 12 month follow-up period will be compared with injury data from the three-year period prior to study initiation. The final product of this work will provide the important evidence needed to widely promote the adoption of the ergonomic tools within the LiftKit, in order to reduce MSD injury risk to EMS providers associated with common patient handling tasks.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Working EMS providers

Exclusion Criteria:

* None

Primary outcomes:
measure: Reported Musculoskeletal Injuries
timeFrame: 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Usability, Usefulness, and Desirability of the tools within the LiftKit
timeFrame: 12 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Columbus
country: United States
facility: The Ohio State University
state: Ohio
Study officials:
References: