Effectiveness of Ergonomics Awareness Training Programme in Minimizing the Ergonomic Risk Factors in Dental Surgeons

Abstract

The professional work usually carried out by the dental surgeons results in developing ergonomic risk factors such as forward bends and rotated positions of the body while handling variety of tools. The successful application of ergonomics assures high productivity, avoidance of illnesses and injuries and increased satisfaction among dental surgeons. The study was carried out to find the effectiveness of ergonomics awareness training programme in minimizing the ergonomic risk factors in dental surgeons. For this purpose, one hundred and thirty dental surgeons among post graduate dental students, faculty members and private practitioners from in and around Mangalore city, Southern Karnataka District, India, with more than one year of experience were selected by using non-probability convenience sampling method. A six week of ergonomics awareness training programme for selected dental surgeons was developed and imparted during the training. In order to determine the effectiveness of ergonomics awareness training programme, a pre-tested structured dental work station observation check list was used. The result indicates that, mean post-test scores of manual material handling (0.23), physical energy demands (0.18), instruments (0.00), environment (0.00) and other musculoskeletal demands (1.35) were lower than the mean pre-test scores i.e., 1.98, 1.95, 0.14, 0.01 and 7.53 respectively. Based on the results of the study we conclude that, ergonomics awareness training programme will be effective in minimizing the ergonomic risk factors in dental surgeons. Key words: Ergonomics awareness; Ergonomic risk factors; Dental surgeons; Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs)