School staff
Dr Sue Hignett
Reader in Healthcare Ergonomics and Patient Safety
Tel +44 (0)1509 223003
Email S.M.Hignett@lboro.ac.uk
Location LDS 2.10
Personal profile
Dr Sue Hignett is a Registered Member of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (UK), Certified European Ergonomist and Chartered Physiotherapist.
She has published research on falls, hospital design, patient handling, ambulance design and patient safety with research grants in excess of £1.2 million from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC), National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), Dept. of Health (Estates and Facilities) and Industrial Sponsors (ARJO, LIKO and Hill-Rom).
Dr Hignett is the co-chair of the European Panel on Patient Handling Ergonomics (EPPHE) and past Chair of the International Ergonomics Association Technical Committee on Healthcare Ergonomics. She is a member of the Peer Review College of the EPSRC and a past member of the EPSRC General Engineering Strategic Advisory Team.
She is an Editor for Ergonomics and a member of the editorial boards of the Malaysian Journal of Ergonomics and Open Ergonomics. Sue has served on international technical and scientific review boards for conferences in Europe, North America and Asia.
Before joining Loughborough University in 2002, Sue worked in the healthcare industry in the UK, Australia and New Zealand for 20 years as an Ergonomist, Physiotherapist and Medical Laboratory Scientist.
From 1994 - 2002 she was Head of the Ergonomics and Back Care Advisory Department at Nottingham City Hospital NHS Trust where she led a successful manual handling risk management programme with reported cost savings of over £3.5 million.
Teaching
- DSA105 Introduction to Ergonomics (Contributing Lecturer)
- DSB106 Qualitative Methods (Module Organiser)
- DSC100 Project module BSc Ergonomics (Module Organiser)
- DSC350 Project module BSc Psychology with Ergonomics (Module Organiser)
- DSP107 Practitioner Skills (Contributing Lecturer)
- DSP013 Introduction to Human Function (Module Organiser)
- DSP106 Data Collection and Analysis (Module Organiser)
- DSP100 Project module MSc Ergonomics (Module Organiser)
Research
- Environmental Ergonomics Research Centre
- Healthcare Ergonomics and Patient Safety research Unit (HEPSU)
Featured publications
Hignett, S. Lu, J. (2010). Space to care and treat safely in acute hospitals: Recommendations from 1866 - 2008, Applied Ergonomics (doi. 10.1016/j.apergo.2009.12.010).
Hignett, S., Crumpton, E., Coleman, R., (2009) Designing emergency ambulances for the 21st century Emergency Medicine Journal 26, 135-140.
Hignett, S. Masud, T. (2006). A Review of Environmental Hazards associated with In-Patient Falls. Ergonomics. 49, 5-6, 605-616.
Hignett, S. (2003) Intervention strategies to reduce musculoskeletal injuries associated with handling patients: A systematic review. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 60, 9, e6 (electronic paper). http://www.occenvmed.com/cgi/content/full/60/9/e6