Quantification of Patient and Equipment Handling for Nurses through Direct Observation and Subjective Perceptions

Table 3

Frequency (number of times per shift) of medical equipment and furniture handling for the nurses in the three ICU units and overall (average and standard deviation).

Unit	Push equipment	Pull equipment	Reposition furniture	Reposition equipment	Lift item from floor
Direct observation
Medical (MICU)	6.1 (3.2)	6.2 (3.6)	3.5 (3.1)	6.0 (2.4)	3.6 (4.6)
Neurosurgical (NSICU)	3.0 (2.6)	3.0 (2.6)	2.3 (2.5)	4.3 (2.0)	1.7 (2.9)
Surgical (SICU)	7.0 (6.2)	6.9 (7.0)	4.0 (4.1)	8.1 (7.1)	0.1 (0.4)
Total ()	6.0 (4.5)	6.0 (4.9)	3.5 (3.3)	6.5 (4.7)	4.3 (5.6)
Perceived
Medical (MICU)	6.1 (5.7)	2.3 (1.9)	5.0 (3.5)	4.7 (3.0)	11.4 (9.9)
Neurosurgical (NSICU)	6.3 (1.2)	9.0 (5.3)	6.7 (4.7)	11.7 (7.6)	8.3 (1.5)
Surgical (SICU)	5.7 (4.3)	5.6 (4.4)	3.6 (3.3)	4.9 (3.9)	0.3 (0.5)
Total ()	6.0 (4.6)	4.5 (4.1)	4.8 (3.6)	5.8 (4.6)	9.9 (7.7)