Abstract
A review and evaluation of work safety and ergonomics promotion activities in Finnish social and health care organisations, nursing and physiotherapy vocational education. In 2009, the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) introduced the ‘Ergonomic patient handling card®’ [later Card] -education scheme developed in close co-operation with social partners and the authorities. The Card scheme defines the competencies, skill, and knowledge levels needed to perform patient transfers safely; ensures compliance with legislative requirements; and enhances patient safety and the quality of care. From 2017–18, differentiated Card learning schemes have been developed for both home care and perioperative nursing and an English version of the basic Finnish Card scheme was piloted to go live in 2019. This article presents the results of two actual studies: (1) social and health sector’s teachers’ activities and competence in promoting the integration of the Card- training or ergonomics into nursing schools’ and universities of applied sciences’ curricula; (2) changes in vocational training and in the workplaces. The study in 2014 showed that the teacher’s activity and competence were key factors in promoting the integration of the Card training into the curricula. In 2016, a survey revealed that teachers’ competence in ergonomics is based mostly on the Card-scheme. A questionnaire sent in March 2019 to teachers with Card instructor qualification showed the slow process of the integration of Card education into the curricula.
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Tamminen-Peter, L., Östring, E., Sormunen, E. (2019). Improving Ergonomics Competences in the Social and Health Care Sector in Finland. In: Cotrim, T., Serranheira, F., Sousa, P., Hignett, S., Albolino, S., Tartaglia, R. (eds) Health and Social Care Systems of the Future: Demographic Changes, Digital Age and Human Factors. HEPS 2019. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1012. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24067-7_11
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