Are you working in the veterinary or animal care field and need help with your on-the-job ergonomics? Are you an employer of veterinary/ animal care workers who would like to provide ergonomic consultations for your staff? Here’s what you need to know to schedule a virtual ergonomics consultation. Contact me at sara@ergovet.com for questions or to arrange for a consultation.
Who provides the consultation?
Sara White DVM, MSc (Health Ergonomics) provides the consultation. Learn more about Sara here.
What information will I need to provide?
For the consultation, the person being evaluated will need to provide both written information and several videos.
Written Information
To assess locations and levels of discomfort, please print, scan, fill in, and email the following three questionnaires: Cornell musculoskeletal discomfort questionnaire, and the Cornell hand discomfort questionnaires for the right hand and left hand.
In addition, please note any specific concerns, problems, or areas that you would like me to evaluate.
Videos
For a spay neuter surgeon evaluation, several videos are required:
Front view video of at least one complete surgery for each typical surgery: cat spay, cat neuter, dog spay, dog neuter. Front view should include as much of the body as possible, although it should minimally include the surgery table and above.
Back view video for at least one complete surgery of any type. Back view should include entire body if possible including feet.
Side view video for at least one complete surgery of any type. Side view should include entire body if possible including feet.
Video quality— a clear good quality cell phone video is fine as long as it is stable (such as on a tripod, or attached to a stable object).
For people working in fields other than spay neuter, specific video views required will be determined after a conversation about your work tasks, your work demands and perceived work strains.
What will I learn?
You will receive a 3-4 page written evaluation of your workplace ergonomics, including the setup and flow of the workspace, positioning of instruments and objects, posture, neck position, and hand use and positioning during work. Screenshots from the videos will be used to illustrate the evaluation. For HQHVSN surgeons, I will also note if the specific surgical techniques used are ergonomically beneficial or detrimental, and comment on moments in surgery when increased ergonomic strain is evident.
How much does it cost?
I charge $175 per hour for a virtual ergonomic consultation, and a typical virtual consultation will take between 2 and 3 hours.
Interested? Contact me at sara@ergovet.com !