With healthcare worker burnout and injuries on the rise, ICW offers a solution.
There has been a considerable departure of healthcare workers over the last few years. While there are many reasons for this, ICW’s mounting solutions can mitigate many of the health issues afflicting the industry.
Since 2020, the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals in the United States have lost an average of 1 in 5 healthcare workers. Although this mass exodus of doctors and nurses — known as The Great Resignation — has several causes, there is at least one thing we should take from it: we must take care of our healthcare workers.
Considering the services healthcare workers provide our communities, particularly over the last couple years, the rigorous and fastpaced healthcare environment has taken a toll on their bodies and minds, resulting in mental and physical burnout. This daily exhaustion can also make them susceptible to work-related musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs), which are “soft tissue injuries caused by sudden impact, force, vibration, and unbalanced positions. MSIs can influence the muscles, nerves, ligaments, joints, blood vessels, neck, and lower back.” These injuries are one reason workers are leaving healthcare in record numbers.
While many of these MSIs are caused by overexertion from manual lifting, moving and repositioning patients, residents or clients, a large percentage of workers suffer due to prolonged computer use. It’s estimated that doctors and nurses spend around 20 to 30 percent of their time at the computer and the MSIs resulting from this can include lower and upper back pain, neck pain, as well as injury to the shoulders, elbows and wrists.
According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), carpal tunnel, arthritis, as well as back injury and pain, account for the majority of the MSIs related to long-term computer use. These injuries can be dramatically reduced with proper ergonomics, which is “the science of fitting workplace conditions and job demands to the capability of the working population. The goal of ergonomics is to reduce stress and eliminate injuries and disorders associated with the overuse of muscles, bad posture and repeated tasks.”
At ICW, the user’s ergonomic comfort is always at the heart of our designs
Because work-related MSIs cost companies billions of dollars annually in a variety of ways — absenteeism, loss of productivity, disability, worker’s compensation, etc. — many employers hire outside ergonomic experts to provide training and clean up the workplace hazards that can result in such injuries. Although this service is effective and reasonable, costing companies just thousands of dollars for ergonomic education, it must be
complemented with the everyday comfort and support that can be provided by the appropriate tools.
And sometimes in order to fix a problem, all you need are the proper tools.
At ICW, our computer mounts are always engineered with the user’s ergonomic comfort at the heart of our designs. With all those hours spent in front of a computer over days, weeks and years, improper body alignment to the workstation will accumulate, potentially resulting in chronic injury. So why not choose a mounting solution provider that delivers medical-grade workstations that adjust to you with correct mechanics and ergonomic comfort?
Our mounting solutions offer the greatest range of motion on the market, allowing your full population of users to comfortably work at a computer, in a variety of use positions. An onsite needs assessment by our product experts will ensure that all use positions needed to support your physical workflow have been identified and accommodated. Whether your mount features the patented, uber-articulate Ultra 180 arm or the extendable Elite 5220 arm, a feather-light touch is all you need to adjust our solutions to your body position, defending you from injury and delivering the solid worksurface support you require for a productive shift. We also specialize in modular custom mounts, supplying you with the largest selection of mounting solutions in the world. Don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our friendly ICW sales representatives: email sales@icwusa.com or call 1-877-770-3154
