Abstract
My technical capstone project and STS research are closely connected through a shared focus on workplace safety in healthcare, particularly the causes and consequences of musculoskeletal injuries among nurses. While my capstone project approaches this issue from an engineering perspective, designing an attachable stepstool to reduce harmful shoulder strain during IV bag handling, my STS research examines how institutional systems shape the way these injuries are understood and addressed. Specifically, my STS paper argues that hospital incident reporting systems frame ergonomic injuries as isolated events rather than symptoms of systemic design flaws, thereby obscuring patterns of harm that disproportionately affect nurses. My motivation for this research stemmed from examining a real instance of nurse injury at the UVA hospital, which prompted me to look more deeply into why such injuries occur in the first place. I began to question why common hospital technologies are not consistently designed with the full range of end users in mind. This line of thinking led me to consider broader systemic issues, particularly how institutional structures influence what kinds of problems are recognized and addressed. Ultimately, this inquiry evolved into a research question focused on how gender bias is embedded within injury reporting mechanisms. Together, these projects are motivated by the same underlying problem: a mismatch between healthcare environments and the needs of the workers operating within them. The technical project seeks to directly mitigate this issue through design, while the STS research analyzes why such issues persist and remain underrecognized.
My capstone project focused on designing a detachable, foldable stepstool that attaches to existing IV poles to help nurses safely hang IV bags without excessive reaching. This problem arises because IV poles are typically set for taller individuals, requiring many nurses, particularly shorter ones, to reach above safe shoulder flexion angles. This ‘overreaching’ significantly increases the risk of musculoskeletal injury for these shorter nurses. The project followed a structured design process that includes developing multiple computer assisted design (CAD) models, evaluating them using a weighted design matrix, and refining top designs through finite element analysis (FEA) and physical load testing. Prototypes were tested to meet safety requirements, such as supporting at least 350 pounds and maintaining structural integrity over time. The final stage involved internal testing conducted by the design team, during which the prototypes were evaluated for comfort, stability, and usability using both quantitative observations and qualitative feedback to inform the final design selection. Ultimately, the goal was to produce a cost-effective, durable solution that improves workplace ergonomics without requiring hospitals to replace existing IV pole infrastructure.
My STS research paper investigates how hospital incident reporting systems contribute to the perpetuation of gender bias in healthcare workplaces. I argue that these systems are not neutral tools but sociotechnical structures that shape how workplace injuries are interpreted and addressed. Through a combination of literature review, analysis of OSHA reporting frameworks, and qualitative data from Reddit forum posts in the r/nursing community, I demonstrate that ergonomic injuries are often framed as isolated incidents tied to individual behavior rather than as outcomes of systemic workplace conditions. In a primarily female profession, where physical strain is normalized and underreported, this framing obscures the structural nature of injury. The research highlights how institutional priorities, such as liability management and efficiency, influence reporting practices and ultimately limit meaningful improvements in workplace safety. By applying STS frameworks, particularly the idea that technologies can embody social and political values, the paper reveals how reporting systems reinforce existing inequities rather than resolving them.
Working on both my capstone and STS projects simultaneously provided a more comprehensive understanding of the problem than either project could have offered on its own. My technical capstone project allowed me to directly engage with the physical and ergonomic challenges nurses face, while the STS research pushed me to critically examine why these challenges persist despite being well documented. In particular, my STS research made me more aware that designing a better device is only part of the solution. Systemic issues in how injuries are reported and interpreted can prevent even well-designed interventions from being recognized or adopted effectively. Conversely, my engineering work grounded my STS analysis in a concrete, real-world example, strengthening my argument about how design flaws contribute to workplace harm. Together, these projects reinforced the importance of integrating technical innovation with critical analysis of institutional systems, showing that meaningful improvements in healthcare require both better designs and better ways of understanding and addressing risk.
