Abstract
We used ergonomic procedures to measure the work of 5 male hemodialysis technicians in preparing and transporting bicarbonate buffered dialysate, and compared the work time, distance and work load when they prepared concentrated liquid (hereafter referred to as LIQUID, Kindary AF-2, Fuso Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan) and dry chemicals (hereafter as DRY, AKDD, Towa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Kadoma, Japan, with an automatic dissolving and diluting system, Nikkiso Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) at the Kidney Disease Medical Center, Ohno Memorial Hospital, where there are 93 patient stations and 280 hemodialysis patients, consuming 55 sets of LIQUID daily. When LIQUID and DRY were compared quantitatively for the two daily shifts of hemodialysis treatments, DRY was 1/6.7 of the weight of LIQUID and 1/3.5 of its volume. The trolley used in the hospital could carry 80 sets of DRY and 20 sets of LIQUID. The work required 23.1% of technician's daily work time for the LIQUID (7.8% for transportation and 15.3% for preparation) and 6.0% for the DRY (1.8% for transportation and 4.2% for preparation). The distance traveled for transportation of the DRY in the hospital and the technician's laboratory was 28.3% of the distance required for the LIQUID. The work load caused the technicians' mean heart rate to increase significantly with the LIQUID, but it did not change with the DRY.
In conclusion, DRY dramatically reduced the work of providing dialysate in a clinical facility and improved the quality of the work life (QWL) of the hemodialysis technicians.
