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 functions: physical, sensorial and cognitive ergonomics. This article gives an overview of the assessment of these aspects of ergonomics in laparoscopic surgery. It is concluded that a systematic approach is needed, in which knowledge that has already been accumulated for different workplaces (for example, in industry) is applied to the surgeon's circumstances. Such an approach would lead to a set of objectively testable ergonomic requirements for all kinds of products that are used by surgeons in the operating room.