In indoor comfort research, thermal comfort of care-professionals in hospital environment is a little explored topic. To address this gap, a mixed methods study, with the nursing staff in hospital wards acting as participants,was undertaken. Responses were collected during three weeks in the summer (n = 89), and four weeks in the autumn (n = 43). Analysis of the subjective feedback from nurses and the measured indoor thermal conditions revealed that the existent thermal conditions (varying between 20 and 25 °C) caused a slightly warm thermal sensation on the ASHRAE seven point scale. This led to a slightly unacceptable thermal comfort and a slightly obstructed self-appraised work performance. The results also indicated that the optimal thermal sensation for the nurses—suiting their thermal comfort requirements and work performance—would be closer to‘slightly cool’than neutral. Using a design approach of dividing the hospital ward into separate thermal zones, with different set-points for respectively patient and care-professionals’comfort, would seem to be the ideal solution that contributes positively to the work environment and, at the same time, creates avenues for energy conservation.
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Background The global nursing shortages exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a drastic reorganization in nursing practices. Work routines, the composition of teams and subsequently mundane nursing practices were all altered to sustain the accessibility and quality of care. These dramatic changes demanded a reshaping of the nurses’ work environment. The aim of this study was to explore how nurses reshaped their work environment in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A descriptive study comprising 26 semi-structured interviews conducted in a large Dutch teaching hospital between June and September 2020. Participants were nurses (including intensive care unit nurses), outpatient clinic assistants, nurse managers, and management (including one member of the Nurse Practice Council). The interviews were analysed with open, axial, and selective coding. Results We identified five themes: 1) the Nursing Staff Deployment Plan created new micro-teams with complementary roles to meet the care needs of COVID-19 infected patients; 2) nurse-led adaptations effectively managed the increased workload, thereby ensuring the quality of care; 3) continuous professional development ensured adequate competence levels for all roles; 4) interprofessional collaboration resulted in experienced solidarity, a positive atmosphere, and increased autonomy for nurses; and, 5) supportive managers reduced nurses’ stress and improved work conditions. Conclusions This study showed that nurses positively reshaped their work environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. They contributed to innovative solutions in an environment of equal interprofessional collaboration, which led to greater respect for their knowledge and competencies, enhanced their autonomy and improved management support.
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Background The global nursing shortages exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a drastic reorganization in nursing practices. Work routines, the composition of teams and subsequently mundane nursing practices were all altered to sustain the accessibility and quality of care. These dramatic changes demanded a reshaping of the nurses’ work environment. The aim of this study was to explore how nurses reshaped their work environment in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A descriptive study comprising 26 semi-structured interviews conducted in a large Dutch teaching hospital between June and September 2020. Participants were nurses (including intensive care unit nurses), outpatient clinic assistants, nurse managers, and management (including one member of the Nurse Practice Council). The interviews were analysed with open, axial, and selective coding. Results We identified five themes: 1) the Nursing Staff Deployment Plan created new micro-teams with complementary roles to meet the care needs of COVID-19 infected patients; 2) nurse-led adaptations effectively managed the increased workload, thereby ensuring the quality of care; 3) continuous professional development ensured adequate competence levels for all roles; 4) interprofessional collaboration resulted in experienced solidarity, a positive atmosphere, and increased autonomy for nurses; and, 5) supportive managers reduced nurses’ stress and improved work conditions. Conclusions This study showed that nurses positively reshaped their work environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. They contributed to innovative solutions in an environment of equal interprofessional collaboration, which led to greater respect for their knowledge and competencies, enhanced their autonomy and improved management support.
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Due to societal developments, like the introduction of the ‘civil society’, policy stimulating longer living at home and the separation of housing and care, the housing situation of older citizens is a relevant and pressing issue for housing-, governance- and care organizations. The current situation of living with care already benefits from technological advancement. The wide application of technology especially in care homes brings the emergence of a new source of information that becomes invaluable in order to understand how the smart urban environment affects the health of older people. The goal of this proposal is to develop an approach for designing smart neighborhoods, in order to assist and engage older adults living there. This approach will be applied to a neighborhood in Aalst-Waalre which will be developed into a living lab. The research will involve: (1) Insight into social-spatial factors underlying a smart neighborhood; (2) Identifying governance and organizational context; (3) Identifying needs and preferences of the (future) inhabitant; (4) Matching needs & preferences to potential socio-techno-spatial solutions. A mixed methods approach fusing quantitative and qualitative methods towards understanding the impacts of smart environment will be investigated. After 12 months, employing several concepts of urban computing, such as pattern recognition and predictive modelling , using the focus groups from the different organizations as well as primary end-users, and exploring how physiological data can be embedded in data-driven strategies for the enhancement of active ageing in this neighborhood will result in design solutions and strategies for a more care-friendly neighborhood.
Currently, many novel innovative materials and manufacturing methods are developed in order to help businesses for improving their performance, developing new products, and also implement more sustainability into their current processes. For this purpose, additive manufacturing (AM) technology has been very successful in the fabrication of complex shape products, that cannot be manufactured by conventional approaches, and also using novel high-performance materials with more sustainable aspects. The application of bioplastics and biopolymers is growing fast in the 3D printing industry. Since they are good alternatives to petrochemical products that have negative impacts on environments, therefore, many research studies have been exploring and developing new biopolymers and 3D printing techniques for the fabrication of fully biobased products. In particular, 3D printing of smart biopolymers has attracted much attention due to the specific functionalities of the fabricated products. They have a unique ability to recover their original shape from a significant plastic deformation when a particular stimulus, like temperature, is applied. Therefore, the application of smart biopolymers in the 3D printing process gives an additional dimension (time) to this technology, called four-dimensional (4D) printing, and it highlights the promise for further development of 4D printing in the design and fabrication of smart structures and products. This performance in combination with specific complex designs, such as sandwich structures, allows the production of for example impact-resistant, stress-absorber panels, lightweight products for sporting goods, automotive, or many other applications. In this study, an experimental approach will be applied to fabricate a suitable biopolymer with a shape memory behavior and also investigate the impact of design and operational parameters on the functionality of 4D printed sandwich structures, especially, stress absorption rate and shape recovery behavior.
In het project “ADVICE: Advanced Driver Vehicle Interface in a Complex Environment” zijn belangrijke onderzoeksresultaten geboekt op het gebied van het schatten van de toestand en werklast van een voertuigbestuurder om hiermee systemen die informatie geven aan de bestuurder adaptief te maken om zo de veiligheid te verhogen. Een voorbeeld is om minder belangrijke informatie van een navigatiesysteem te onderdrukken, zolang de bestuurder een hoge werklast ervaart voor het autorijden en/of belangrijke informatie juist duidelijker weer te geven. Dit leidt tot een real-time werklast schatter die geografische informatie meeneemt, geavaleerd in zowel een rijsimulator als op de weg. In de ontwikkeling naar automatisch rijden is de veranderende rol van de bestuurder een belangrijk (veiligheids) onderwerp, welke sterk gerelateerd is aan de werklast van de bestuurder. Indien rijtaken meer geautomatiseerd worden, wijzigt de rol van actieve bestuurder meer naar supervisie van de rijtaken, maar tevens met de eis om snel en gericht in te grijpen indien de situatie dit vereist. Zowel deze supervisie als interventietaak zijn geen eenvoudige taken met onderling een sterk verschillende werklast (respectievelijk lage en (zeer) hoge werklast). Of een goede combinatie inclusief snelle overgangen tussen deze twee hoofdtaken veilig mogelijk is voor een bestuurder en hoe dit dan het beste ondersteund kan worden, is een belangrijk onderwerp van huidig onderzoek. De ontwikkeling naar autonoom rijden verandert niet alleen de rol van de bestuurder, maar zal ook de eisen aan het rijgedrag van het voertuig beïnvloeden, de voertuigdynamica. Voor de actieve bestuurder kunnen snelle voertuigreacties op bestuurdersinput belangrijk zijn, zeker voor een ‘sportief’ rijdende bestuurder. Indien dit voertuig ook automatische rijtaken moet uitvoeren, kan juist een meer gelijkmatig rijgedrag gewenst zijn, zodat de bestuurder ook andere taken kan uitvoeren. Dit stelt eisen aan vertaling van (automatische) input naar voertuigreactie en aan de voertuigdynamica. Mogelijk wil zelfs een sportieve bestuurder een meer comfortabel voertuiggedrag tijdens automatisch rijden. Eveneens voor deze twee voertuigtoestanden, menselijke of automatische besturing, moet gezocht worden naar een goede combinatie inclusief (veilige) overgangen tussen deze twee toestanden. Hierbij speelt de werklast en toestand van de bestuurder een doorslaggevende rol. In de geschetste ontwikkelingen in automatisch rijden kunnen de onderzoeksresultaten van ADVICE een goede ondersteuning bieden. Veel van deze ontwikkelingen worstelen met het schatten van de werklast van de bestuurder als cruciaal (veiligheids) aspect van automatisch rijden. De ADVICE resultaten zijn echter gepresenteerd voor beperkt publiek en gepubliceerd op conferenties, waarvan de artikelen veelal slechts tegen betaling toegankelijk zijn. Daarnaast zijn dergelijke artikelen gelimiteerd in aantal pagina’s waardoor de over te dragen informatie beperkt is. Om een betere doorwerking van ADVICE aan ‘iedereen’ te realiseren en tevens de mogelijkheden hiervan in de toekomst van automatisch rijden te plaatsen, willen wij top-up gebruiken om hierover een artikel te schrijven en dit in een peer-reviewed Open Access tijdschrift online toegankelijk te maken. Hierdoor wordt de informatie voor iedereen, gratis toegankelijk (open access), is de inhoud uitgebreider aan te geven (tijdschriftartikel) en is de inhoud en kwaliteit goed en relevant voor het vakgebied (peer-reviewed).
Lectorate, part of NHL Stenden Hogeschool
