Personal protective equipment for COVID-19 among healthcare workers in an emergency department: An exploratory survey of workload, thermal discomfort and symptoms of heat strain.

OBJECTIVES: To examine workload, thermal discomfort and heat-related symptoms among healthcare workers (HCWs) in an Australian ED during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was employed among HCWs in an ED at a metropolitan hospital in Brisbane, Australia. Respondents provided demographic information including their self-reported age, sex, height, weight, role (e.g. doctor, nurse), and whether they wore personal protective equipment (PPE) during their shift, rated as either Full PPE, Partial PPE, or usual uniform or scrubs. The workload of HCWs was assessed with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's task load index (NASA-TLX). Thermal discomfort was evaluated using scales from the International Organisation for Standardisation. Responders rated their subjective heat illness using the Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire. RESULTS: Fifty-nine HCWs completed the survey (27 male, 31 female, one prefer not to answer). Overall workload from the NASA-TLX was 64.6 (interquartile range [IQR] 56.5-73.3) for doctors, 72.5 (IQR 63.3-83.3) for nurses and 66.7 (IQR 58.3-74.17) for other staff, representing moderate to high ratings. Eighty-one percent reported thermal sensation to be slightly warm, warm, or hot, and 88% reported being uncomfortable, ranging from slightly to extremely. Ninety-seven percent reported at least one heat-strain symptom. More than 50% reported light-headedness or headache and approximately 30% reported feeling dizzy, faint, or weak. CONCLUSIONS: ED HCWs experience thermal discomfort when wearing PPE. Combined with their workloads, HCWs experienced symptoms related to heat strain. Therefore, careful consideration should be given to managing heat strain among HCWs when wearing PPE in an ED.

The Evaluation of Cognitive Load Significance for Mobile Learning Application via User Interface Design Violations

COVID-19 has changed how the world operates, and education is one of the sectors that are highly affected by these changes. Previously, mobile learning is just an optional or a supplementary learning method. However, with the increased in the number of COVID-19 cases around the world, education system has switched from the traditional face-to-face mode in a classroom setting, to an online learning environment. Learning using a mobile device or mobile learning is a concept that is new to most learners, especially those who have never before experienced an online learning setting. One of the prevalent factors that leads to ineffective mobile learning process is badly designed user interfaces that will disengage learners from learning materials presented, and increase the cognitive load of the learners. Among the factors that results in bad user interface is the violation of a user interface guideline/framework. Therefore, the main objective of this research-work is to evaluate the learners' cognitive load significance for mobile learning application by identifying Nielsen's Heuristics' violation. By implementing this study, important user interface design (UID) attributes that increase learner's cognitive load can be identified. Understanding how UID can affect the learners' cognitive load can assist designers in deciding which user interface designs that can improve or minimize learners' cognitive load. The outcome of this research will enable mobile learning application designers, developers, educators, teachers and people who are interested in developing a mobile learning application to deliver an effective mobile learning experience to learners. © 2022 IEEE.

A Telecommuting Experience Service Design Decision Model Based on BP Neural Network.

Introduction: The telecommuting experience and job performance have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and job performance stability of telecommuting employees has become a critical concern. Objective: A decision model for telecommuting experience service design was constructed based on a backpropagation (BP) neural network to provide a theoretical basis for enterprises to evaluate telework performance and the psychological health of employees. Methods: The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to determine the core stakeholders. The grey relational analysis (GRA) method and the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) scale were used to measure the factors affecting employees' telecommuting experience and job performance. A BP neural network relationship model of employees' telecommuting experience was established to predict its impact on employees' job performance. Results: Based on the model prediction results, a service system map was created, and the potential to enhance the telework performance of employees was evaluated. Discussion: It was concluded that the factors affecting the telecommuting experience were diverse, but emotions had the dominant influence. Significant positive correlations were found between emotional impact and temporal perception, execution difficulty, and communication barriers. Conclusion: The proposed decision model for telecommuting experience service design accurately predicted the impact of telecommuting efficiency, providing an effective approach for innovative remote management.

Experimental study to investigate mental workload of local vs remote operator in human-machine interaction

A new Coronavirus disease 2019 has spread globally since 2019. Consequently, businesses from different sectors were forced to work remotely. At the same time, research in this area has seen a rise in studying and emerging technologies that allow and promote such a remote working style;not every sector is equipped for such a transition. The manufacturing sector especially, has faced challenges in this respect. This paper investigates the mental workload (MWL) of two groups of participants through a human-machine interaction task. Participants were required to bring a robotised cell to full production by tuning system and dispensing process parameters. Following the experiment, a self-assessment of the participants' perceived MWL using the raw NASA Task Load Index (RTLX) was collected. The results reveal that remote participants tend to have a lower perceived workload compared to the local participants, but mental demand was deemed higher while performance was rated lower.

Student workload assessment for online learning: An empirical analysis during Covid-19

Covid-19 has forced most educational institutions around the world to migrate to online learning in an emergency mode to protect students from the pandemic. This sudden migration to online learning has created multi-dimensional demands on students. Therefore, student workload needs to be measured during online learning. The purpose of this study is to measure the student workload from student perception by evaluating online learning in terms of Mental demand (MD), Physical demand (PD), Temporal demand (TD), Effort (EF), Performance (PE) and Frustration (FR). This study through a cross-sectional survey analysed 223 student's workloads on six dimensions using a NASA -TLX scale. The study finds all six components of workload significant for student assessment during online learning. Besides, the NASA-TLX scale was tested using confirmatory factor analysis for its ability to assess student workload for online learning. This is the first study to assess the student workload for online learning and hence contributes to the theory of measurement of workload assessment for online learning. The educational institutions can use this study to measure the student workload assessment for various courses offered by them using this simple tool.

Has COVID-19 changed the workload for primary care physicians? The case of Spain.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a massive over-exertion of doctors, multiplying their work intensity, overload and stress. Yet no studies have been conducted on the changes in primary care physician overload during the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: To address this research gap, the aim of this article is to document the subjective dimensions of physicians' work during the peak of the pandemic for comparison with a pre-COVID-19 situation. In addition, the relationship between workload and the individual characteristics of the physician or the percentage of tele-assistance is examined. METHODS: This study performs a subjective measurement procedure for the analysis of work overload through the NASA-TLX questionnaire, with a total of 102 records from 16 doctors from a Primary Health Centers of the Granada-Metropolitan Health district (Andalusia, Spain). RESULTS: The results reflect a significantly higher workload during COVID-19 in relation to a previous situation (66.1% versus 48.6% before COVID-19). All the dimensions of the NASA-TLX test suffered an increase during the COVID-19, this increase being higher in the physical, temporal and frustration levels. Interestingly, the findings reflect the higher the percentage of telematic consultations, the lower workload. CONCLUSIONS: Work overload and the emotional state of health workers is one of the many repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results derived from this study may be useful in formulating policies and practices related to the workforce development, funding streams to prepare for the next wave of COVID-19 infections as well as for future public health emergencies.