The Relationship Between the Level of Furniture Ergonomic Compliance and Metrics of Nurses’ Physical Comfort

Hospital interior design plays a critical role in shaping the occupational health, safety, and operational efficiency of healthcare workers. In high-volume public facilities like Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH), poorly optimised physical environments can exacerbate physical strain and hinder care delivery. Globally, ergonomics principles have long enhanced worker comfort and efficiency. However, in Kenya, at JOOTRH, the failure to integrate these principles into the hospital’s interior design has left nurses with no choice but to adapt to poorly suited physical environments. This study investigated how interior design at JOOTRH met nurses’ ergonomic needs. The specific objective was to determine the relationship between the level of furniture ergonomic compliance and nurses’ physical comfort, measured as musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) severity. The theory guiding this study was User-Centred Design theory by Norman (1988). This study adopted a mixed-methods convergent parallel design. The accessible population comprised 112 nurses who completed the questionnaire. A purposive sample of three senior nurses participated in an in-depth interview. Quantitative data were collected through questionnaires and a structured observation checklist, then analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews and analysed thematically. Ergonomic furniture compliance showed a weak negative correlation with MSD severity (rₛ = -0.211, p = 0.039), yet adjustable chairs, lumbar support, and reachable items were completely absent. Qualitative findings corroborated these results, with nurses describing chronic discomfort and improvised workarounds that explained the persistence of symptoms. The study concluded that furniture ergonomic compliance had a weak but statistically significant association with nurses’ physical comfort, while the absence of basic ergonomic features signalled systemic gaps in interior design. These findings inform evidence-based redesign and Kenya’s policy discourse on national ergonomic standards.