Ergonomic analysis and design intervention in symbols used in hospitals in central India

People visiting different Government Hospitals at Jabalpur in central India, were facing problems in comprehending different symbols. One of such hospital authority approached the research team for developing new symbols which could be easily comprehended by the users. Based on this, the current study was conducted, which included two experiments. The first experiment dealt with the ergonomic evaluation and identification of problems associated with the existing symbols. New concepts were then developed based on Ergonomic principles and users' feedback. The second experiment focused upon testing of the new concepts on the target users. Results of Experiment 1 indicated that the mean comprehension level was 22.3% for all the existing symbols (n = 41). Low scores (on a scale of 1-10) were found for the existing symbol for ergonomic principles (mean value was 1.9 for Compatibility, 2.1 for Familiarity, and 2.0 for Standardisation). Redesigned concepts of the symbols were tested on the target users, the result indicated an improvement in comprehensibility of newly designed symbols. The mean comprehension level for 53 new/redesigned symbols was 70.2%, which included redesign of 41 orignal and inclusion of 12 new symbols. High scores (on a scale of 1-10) were received for all the new symbols for ergonomic principles (the mean value was 8.4 for Compatibility, 8.5 for Familiarity, and 8.5 for Standardisation). Findings of this study may be helpful for the researchers working in the domain of information ergonomics in space related to healthcare sector or similar areas.