Evaluation of a Treadmill Workstation in an Emergency Dispatch Center (Marche_15)

Evaluation of a Treadmill Workstation in an Emergency Dispatch Center. A Randomized Controlled Trial.

The principal objective of this study is to determine if the provision of a treadmill workstation in an emergency medical services (EMS) dispatch center increases the number of steps that participants make daily within 6 months compared to the usual working conditions.

The investigators hypothesized that the provision of a treadmill workstation with a slow walking could increase the number of daily steps and decrease days of leave, musculoskeletal disorders without decreasing the dispatch quality.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Work-Related Condition
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Use of the treadmill workstation at work

Detailed Description

Sedentariness, measured by the daily duration of time spent seated is a cardiovascular risk factor, chronic pathologies (cancer, musculoskeletal pain) and mortality.

The employees who remain seated from 8 to 11 hours per day have an increase risk of death within 3 years (15%). This increase reaches 40% for more than 11 hours a day.

The restoration of a daily moderate physical activity from 60 to 75 minutes could permit to eliminate this increased risk.

Interventions in workplace to limit sitting are associated with a metabolic benefit, but also with a reduction in musculoskeletal problems and fatigue.

The role of dispatchers is to initiate the medical record by determining the severity of the call and take rapid and adequate decision.

They are seated behind their desks from 8 to 11 hours in a busy and stressful environment.

Many dispatchers are complaining of musculoskeletal disorders and weight gain. An internal study conducted between between 2012 and 2016 showed an increase in long-term pain, irritability and sleep disorders. Overall, 65% of the respondents reported that they were tired at work and had less empathy.

The use of workstations with low-speed treadmills were assessed to allow physical activity at work.

A recent review concluded that their use reduced the time that the employees spent seated, stress and improved energy expenditure, as well as different biological and physical parameters (weight loss, lipid determination, glycaemia). This study did not reveal any alterations in performance at work.

The investigators assume that the establishment of a position allowing slow walk during dispatch call would increase the number of steps made by dispatchers on a daily basis and reduce the number of days of leave and musculoskeletal disorders, without impairing the quality of call pick-up.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 32
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Grenoble, France
    • University Hospital Grenoble

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Dispatchers working in Emergency Medical Service

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant women
• Inability to walk

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control Group; During the randomized study phase (6 months),subjects will perform their usual activity without access to the treadmill workstation in the dispatch center. After six months, all subjects will continue to be assessed with free access to the treadmill workstation at the workplace.
Experimental: Experimental Group; During the randomized study phase, subjects will have an open access to the treadmill workstation with the indication to use it for at least one hour (continuous or split) on working days. After six months, all subjects will continue to be assessed with free access to the treadmill workstation.	Other: Use of the treadmill workstation at work; During the randomized study phase, provision of the treadmill workstation with the recommendation to use it for at least one hour (continuous or split) during each of the working shifts. After six months, all subjects will use treadmill without restrictions or conditions.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Difference of number of steps at 0 and 6 months	Number of daily steps measured by actimetry (including all walking activities measured over a day). Measurements will be done with actimetry during one week before the randomization and at 6 months	0 and 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Evaluation of Quality of life	Assessment of quality of life with the validated Short Form Health Survey assessment SF-36	0, 6 and 12 months
Evaluation of Anxiety and depression	Assessment of anxiety depression with the validated Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score. This questionnaire helps your physician to know how the patient is feeling.	0, 6 and 12 months
Change in blood pressure	Assessment of blood pressure every month	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 months
Change in heart rate	Assessment of heart rate every month	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 months
Change in Weight	Assessment of weight every month	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 months
Assessment of musculoskeletal disorders	Assessment with the validated Standardised Nordic Questionnaire	0, 6 and 12 months
Evaluation of non-attendance at work	Number of workdays not realised during the month	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 months
Job performance evaluation	Assessment with the Likert scale (7-points scale) Level of Performance - 7 point 0 - Not at all performant; - Low performant; - Slightly performant; - Neutral; - Moderately performant; - Very performant; - Extremely performant	0, 6 and 12 months
Work satisfaction evaluation	Assessment with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (7-points scale). Level of Satisfaction - 7 point 0 - Completely dissatisfied; - Mostly dissatisfied; - Somewhat dissatisfied; - neither satisfied or dissatisfied; - Somewhat satisfied; - Mostly satisfied; - Completely satisfied	0, 6 and 12 months
Assessment of sleep quality	Assessment with the Pittsburgh Quality Index survey	0, 6 and 12 months
Evaluation of tobacco consumption	Mean of packs of smoked cigarettes during the week before the evaluation. This evaluation is based on a declared and quantitative consumption.	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 months
Evaluation of pickup calls quality	Calls are evaluated according to the following criteria: Presentation of the volunteer at the picked up of the call; Audio quality; Listening of the patient request; Empathy; Relevance of the call sort; Management of the end of communication; Call duration	0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 months
Walking period during a working day	Evaluation of walking time on the treadmill with the integrated software	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital, Grenoble
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Guillaume Debaty, MD, PhD, CHU Grenoble Alpes, SAMU38

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 15, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 15, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 12, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 24, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): April 25, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 7, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 29, 2021
• Last Verified: August 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Exercise; Treadmills; Number of steps; Dispatchers
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Disease Attributes; Emergencies
• Other Study ID Numbers: Marche pour le 15

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No