ErgoCoaches: Peer Leaders Promoting Ergonomic Changes−Exploring Their Profile and Effect

In the Netherlands, ergonomic changes are stimulated by means of national guidelines for practice in health care. To facilitate the implementation of these guidelines in clinical practice, ErgoCoaches or peer leaders were appointed. These nurses or nursing aids received additional training on ergonomics and have, in addition to their normal nursing work (90-100% of their working hours), a special responsibility to stimulate safe work practices among their colleagues. Currently, over 13000 ErgoCoaches are registered in the Netherlands, and their development has been studied over a period of 10 years by means of regular surveys and by 2 more in-depth studies. This paper presents the overall results of those studies and demonstrates the gradual change towards a more cost-efficient and potentially more effective model of peer leadership. In addition, the studies show a slow but steady shift from ErgoCoaches acting mainly as “change agents” with a short term focus toward a role as long term “guardians” to sustain and stabilize safe working routines. To date, ErgoCoaches have shown to be an effective and integral part of a comprehensive safe patient handling program, reinforcing and consolidating the positive effects of ergonomic programs, mainly by motivating nurses and promoting the use of protocols in patient care plans. Nonetheless, the yearly surveys among ErgoCoaches also point to a lack of training, expertise, and time for ErgoCoaches to perform the activities expected of them. The managerial challenge is to find an optimum model of ErgoCoaches that balances the costs of having and maintaining a competent group of ErgoCoaches and the effects they have on an ergonomic policy and outcome variables such as sick leave. A business case with this purpose was developed to assist managers in making these choices, as the optimum model of ErgoCoaches may differ between healthcare sectors.

Knibbe HJJ, Knibbe NE, Klaassen AJWM

Keywords: ErgoCoaches, peer leaders, role evaluation, safe patient handling