BACKGROUND: Hospital work-related musculoskeletal disorders
(WRMSDs) symptoms are highly prevalent and nurses are considered the health
care professional group more often affected by WRMSDs.
OBJECTIVES: Understanding the effects of nursing tasks on WRMSDs
symptoms.
METHODS: Portuguese nurses answered to a modified Nordic
Musculoskeletal symptoms Questionnaire. The increased likelihood of
having WRMSDs symptoms was estimated from a daily working task schedule and
the probability of suffering from lumbar WRMSDs symptoms intensity was also
estimated.
RESULTS: Hospital nurses studied (n= 1.396) were mainly females
(75.8%), and most of them reported more than 1 symptom (88%).
Low-back pain was the most prevalent complaint (60.9%). Tasks performed more than
10 times a day, such as invasive procedures (OR = 2.142); care of hygiene and
patient comfort in bed (OR = 2.484); patient mobilization in bed (OR = 2.022);
and patient feeding (OR = 2.186) had an effect on dorsal and lumbar symptoms
(p< 0.05).
Those tasks involving invasive procedures were just the only ones
producing symptoms simultaneously on every studied body
part, such as lumbar, dorsal, wrist/hand and ankles/feet areas.
CONCLUSIONS: Tasks with a greater effect on low-back pain intensity
were patient bed feeding and patient hygiene and care. We found, when
analysing simultaneously the effects of every task on the likelihood
of having
low-back symptoms, that involving invasive procedures were that
only ones affecting
simultaneously the presence of almost all WRMSDs symptoms
studied.
