ABSTRACT
The large-scale adoption of occupational exoskeletons (OEs) will only happen if clear evidence of effectiveness of the devices is available. Performing product-specific field validation studies would allow the stakeholders and decision-makers (e.g., employers, ergonomists, health, and safety departments) to assess OEs' effectiveness in their specific work contexts and with experienced workers, who could further provide useful insights on practical issues related to exoskeleton daily use. This paper reviews present-day scientific methods for assessing the effectiveness of OEs in laboratory and field studies, and presents the vision of the authors on a roadmap that could lead to large-scale adoption of this technology. The analysis of the state-of-the-art shows methodological differences between laboratory and field studies. While the former are more extensively reported in scientific papers, they exhibit limited generalizability of the findings to real-world scenarios. On the contrary, field studies are limited in sample sizes and frequently focused only on subjective metrics. We propose a roadmap to promote large-scale knowledge-based adoption of OEs. It details that the analysis of the costs and benefits of this technology should be communicated to all stakeholders to facilitate informed decision making, so that each stakeholder can develop their specific role regarding this innovation. Large-scale field studies can help identify and monitor the possible side-effects related to exoskeleton use in real work situations, as well as provide a comprehensive scientific knowledge base to support the revision of ergonomics risk-assessment methods, safety standards and regulations, and the definition of guidelines and practices for the selection and use of OEs.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) and to identify the associated factors, causative organisms and outcome of VAP in children admitted to ICU. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional, observational study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Medical ICU (MICU) of the Children's Hospital and Institute of Child Health, Lahore, from August 2008 to March 2009. METHODOLOGY: All children admitted to MICU and requiring ventilation during the study period were included and monitored for any features suggestive of VAP. Partial septic screen was done in all suspected cases. VAP was labelled when any patient on the ventilator for more than 48 hours had at least 2 of the following features of nosocomial infection - fever > 101°F, TLC < 4000 or > 15000 per mm3, neutrophils > 85%, CRP > 48 mg/L or new findings on chest examination suggestive of pneumonia; and radiological evidence of new or progressive and persistent infiltrates. Percentages were compared using chi-square test with the significance at p-value less than 0.05. RESULTS: Of the 93 children requiring mechanical ventilation during the study period, 16 developed VAP (17%). Almost half (46%) were younger than 1 year with male to female ratio of 1.2:1. Children developing VAP required ventilation for 13.5 (+ 10.1) days compared to 7.7 (+ 5.5) days in those who did not develop VAP. The common organisms isolated were Pseudomonas, Klebsiella and E. coli. Factors associated with increased frequency of VAP included age less than 1 year, unplanned emergency intubation and use of continuous intravenous sedation. Features that strongly suggested underlying VAP included purulent tracheal secretions compared to increased secretions alone, CRP > 48 mg/L, positive radiological findings and positive tracheal aspirate culture. Overall mortality was 23% among the ventilated cohort. Thirty two percent of them had VAP compared to only 13% among those who survived to discharge (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: The frequency of VAP was 17% in this series. Factors significantly associated with VAP were age less than 1 year, unplanned intubation and continuous sedation. The important predictors of VAP included purulent tracheal secretions, high CRP and persistent new radiological findings.
