Assessment of ergonomics in laparoscopic surgery

At Delft University designers are educated to design 'products for people'. Therefore the field of ergonomics has been divided along the human functio ns: physical, sensorial and cognitive ergonomics. This article gives an ove rview of the assessment of these aspects of ergonomics in laparoscopic surg ery. It is concluded that a systematic approach is needed, in which knowled ge that has already been accumulated for different workplaces (for example, in industry) is applied to the surgeon's circumstances. Such an approach w ould lead to a set of objectively testable ergonomic requirements for all k inds of products that are used by surgeons in the operating room.