Ergonomics Consideration for Hospital Bed Design: A Case Study in Bangladesh

Md. Ariful Islam, Md. Asadujjaman, Md. Nuruzzaman and Md. Mosharraf Hossain

Hospital beds and other similar types of beds are used not only in hospitals, but also in other health care facilities and settings, such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, outpatient clinics, and in home health care. There has more variations in the design of hospital bed and no one is designed with considering anthropometric data of Bangladesh. Anthropometry involves the systematic measurement of the physical properties of the human body, primarily dimensional descriptors of body size and shape which can be used to identify the physical dimensions of hospital bed. In this study, 35 patients and 35 doctors have given their opinion through a set of questionnaires. A total of 103 students of Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET) participated for anthropometric measurement. Four anthropometric dimensions related to normal hospital bed have measured using meter scale. The result shows that back pain, fatigue, blood circulation problem, comfort and sleep are related to the anthropometric factors of hospital bed. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) analysis shows that patient bed length is most responsible for patient physical demand which is related to anthropometric factor stature. Linear regression analysis shows the relationship of stature with others anthropometric measurement related to normal hospital bed. This study will help the furniture industries in Bangladesh to design the products and will provide a clear conception about physical dimensions of Bangladeshi people.