Revitalising Ergonomic Assessments:
The MAPO Methodology for Healthcare Workers
Healthcare is an industry with the patient at the heart of it. However, in doing so, the needs of the staff and workers are often overlooked.
Two decades ago, Dr. Menoni set out to change that. She and her team created a holistic assessment for workers in hospitals and nursing homes to assess their risk of WRMSDs.
We had the opportunity to go into a deep dive into a particular ergonomic assessment - the MAPO methodology - with Dr. Olga Menoni and Marco Tasso. Dr. Menoni has over four decades of experience in the field of ergonomics, two of those years particularly focusing on the MAPO methodology. Marco has been working for the past decade on the evolution of the MAPO methodology and how it can be improved.
The MAPO Methodology - A Groundbreaking Approach
MAPO stands for 'Method for the Assessment of Patient Handling'. It is an approach to assess and reduce the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) among healthcare workers.
This methodology provides a structured framework for assessing the ergonomic risks associated with patient-handling tasks in healthcare facilities. The MAPO index looks at several risk factors before quantifying the level of risk between green, yellow, and red. Some of the factors that the index looks at are the lifting factor, minor aids factor, wheelchair factor, etc.
By quantifying these risks, MAPO empowers healthcare institutions to implement targeted preventive measures, improving both worker safety and patient care
The Evolution
of MAPO
The MAPO method started as a pioneering approach to assessing and mitigating the risks of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) among healthcare workers in Italy. It has since matured into an internationally recognised and adaptable framework. Through meticulous research, validation studies, and real-world applications, MAPO has continuously evolved to address the changing landscape of healthcare. One of its most significant advancements has been the incorporation of task frequency. This provides a more comprehensive understanding of ergonomic risks by considering the frequency of manual lifting tasks performed by healthcare workers.
This evolution positions MAPO as a dynamic tool that can adapt to diverse healthcare settings, like healthcare workers in homecare settings. For example, despite the presence of lifts in nursing homes since 2008, 73.8% of their workforce is exposed to high levels of risk according to the MAPO index. That is significantly high when you compare it to a mere 8.1% high risk in hospitals. More on this in
Dr. Menoni’s and Marco’s episode that you can watch here.
You can also find this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere else you get your podcasts.
Olga Menoni, Natale Battevi, Marco Tasso, Diana Robla, and Sonia Tello are conducting a 3-hour workshop on MAPO method for the study of patient movement: news and applicative examples. To register for the conference, click here.
Revitalising Ergonomic Assessments:
The MAPO Methodology for Healthcare Workers
Healthcare is an industry with the patient at the heart of it. However, in doing so, the needs of the staff and workers are often overlooked.
Two decades ago, Dr. Menoni set out to change that. She and her team created a holistic assessment for workers in hospitals and nursing homes to assess their risk of WRMSDs.
We had the opportunity to go into a deep dive into a particular ergonomic assessment - the MAPO methodology - with Dr. Olga Menoni and Marco Tasso. Dr. Menoni has over four decades of experience in the field of ergonomics, two of those years particularly focusing on the MAPO methodology. Marco has been working for the past decade on the evolution of the MAPO methodology and how it can be improved.
The MAPO Methodology -
A Groundbreaking Approach
MAPO stands for 'Method for the Assessment of Patient Handling'. It is an approach to assess and reduce the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) among healthcare workers.
This methodology provides a structured framework for assessing the ergonomic risks associated with patient-handling tasks in healthcare facilities. The MAPO index looks at several risk factors before quantifying the level of risk between green, yellow, and red. Some of the factors that the index looks at are the lifting factor, minor aids factor, wheelchair factor, etc.
By quantifying these risks, MAPO empowers healthcare institutions to implement targeted preventive measures, improving both worker safety and patient care.