Browsing by Author "Nino, Valentina"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Association Between Perceived Workload and Adverse Body Posture
(2019-09) Nino, Valentina; Marchak, Frank; Claudio, David
Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) can be a result of complex interactions between physical, psychosocial, biological, and individual characteristics. However, the evidence on specific associations is still inconclusive. A previous study conducted at a Sterile Processing Department (SPD) in a local hospital established an association between perceived job demands and adverse body postures. However, causal inferences were not possible to establish given the study design. Consequently, the objective of this study was to determine if perception of mental workload causes workers to use more risky body postures. Objective and subjective assessment tools (REBA and NASA-TLX scores) were used as indicators of body postures and mental workload. The findings indicated that there is a positive relationship between the perception of workload (NASA-TLX scores) and adverse body postures (REBA scores) suggesting that people tend to adopt more awkward postures when they feel they are in a rush condition or they have more things to do.
Coupling Wearable Devices and Decision Theory in the United States Emergency Department Triage Process: A Narrative Review
(2020-12) Nino, Valentina; Claudio, David; Schiel, Christie; Bellows, Brendan
This research was motivated by the nurses’ decision-making process in the current emergency department (ED) triage process in the United States. It explores how continuous vital signs monitoring can be integrated into the ED. The article presents four shortcomings on current ED triage systems and proposes a new conceptual clinical decision support model that exploits the benefits of combining wireless wearable devices with Multi-Attribute Utility Theory to address those shortcomings. A literature review was conducted using various engineering and medical research databases, analyzing current practices and identifying potential improvement opportunities. The results from the literature review show that advancements in wireless wearable devices provide opportunities to enhance current ED processes by monitoring patients while they wait after triage and, therefore, reduce the risk of an adverse event. A dynamic mathematical decision support model to prioritize patients is presented, creating a feedback loop in the ED. The coupling of wearable devices (to collect data) with decision theory (to synthesize and organize the information) can assist in reducing sources of uncertainty inherent to ED systems. The authors also address the feasibility of the proposed conceptual model.
Optimizing patient flow, capacity, and performance of COVID-19vaccination clinics
(Taylor & Francis, 2022-04) Valladares, Leonardo; Nino, Valentina; Martínez, Kenneth; Sobek, Durward; Claudio, David; Moyce, Sally
Mass vaccination plays an important role in increasing immunization against COVID-19 and decreasing morbidity. Drive-through and traditional walk-through centers have been set up in most cities in the United States and other countries to vaccinate large numbers of people in a short period of time. This article focuses on a pair of mass vaccination clinics conducted on a mid-sized, public university campus. Applying tools from Industrial Engineering, including time study, flow charts, and Queuing Theory, the team identified improvements that resulted in a 40% reduction in the duration of the second clinic while vaccinating almost the same number of patients with no increases in overall staffing. The work resulted in a model for designing mass vaccination clinics in the future and demonstrates that engineers have the ability to support healthcare personnel to increase the performance of the vaccination centers. The inclusion of engineering in the planning and execution of these vaccination clinics can help maximize clinic capacity, reduce the staff and resources needed, and reduce the patients’ waiting time.
Simulating a sterilization processing department to evaluate block schedules and tray configurations
(Wiley, 2023-06) Harris, Sean; Nino, Valentina; Claudio, David
Discrete event simulation is a well-established tool for examining the effect of different operating room (OR) block schedules on various performance metrics within the OR suite and adjacent units. However, one unit that has rarely been studied is the sterilization processing department (SPD), which cleans and assembles reusable OR instruments. As part of a larger research study, we developed a series of OR block assignment models that sought to reduce the workload of the SPD and developed a tray optimization model to reduce the number of instruments on increasingly bloated instrument trays. While initial numerical experiments were promising, a comprehensive simulation model of the OR and SPD was needed to more thoroughly examine how potential changes to the block schedule and/or more efficient tray configurations could improve SPD processing times. In this article, we incorporate the SPD into an existing simulation model of an OR suite, which is the first of its kind, and examine the effect that different block schedules and tray configurations have on SPD processing times. Simulation results confirm earlier numerical computations. Furthermore, simulation results suggest that more efficient instrument tray configurations are a much better and more viable method for improving SPD processing time than reconfiguring block schedules.