RESUMO
Background: The least attention is given to the real heroes of the hospital is the Class 4 workers are associated with a lot of duties of lifting and transferring patients and are at risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). Aim and Objectives: The aim of the study was to find the prevalence of WMSDs in 9 body regions among Class 4 workers of tertiary care hospitals and ergonomics assessment of their exposure to risk factors for the development of WMSDs. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 148 Class 4 workers (male: 99; female: 49 Age: >23 years) from tertiary care hospitals. A structured questionnaire comprises demographic questions, Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire-Extended for WMSDs assessment in nine body parts and quick exposure check (QEC) method for ergonomic assessment, and new job stress scale for assessing job-related stress. The prevalence of WMSDs for each body region was determined. Results: Respondents’ mean age was 31.3 years (SD = 9). Point prevalence for WMSDs was high in regions like the lower back (43.8%), followed by the knee (40.8%), and shoulder (34.4%). Among 49 female respondents, 25 reported lower back pain (51%), and 20 reported neck pain (41.6%). Among 99 male respondents, 25 reported lower back pain (25.5%) while 22 reported knee pain (22.2%). QEC assessment showed that level of exposure to WMSDs risk was high among 50% of the study population. Conclusion: The lower back and knee were the most affected areas among Class 4 workers. Moreover, QEC findings warned the level of exposure to WMSDs risks is high.
RESUMO
Objective@#To evaluate the ergonomic load of clinical nursing procedures and to provide evidence for the prevention and management of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) in nurses.@*Methods@#Based on the nursing unit characteristics and the common departments involving patient-turning procedures, 552 nurses were selected from 6 clinical departments from July to September, 2016. The ergonomic load of four types of patient-turning procedures, i.e., turning the patient’s body, changing the bed linen of in-bed patients, moving patients, and chest physiotherapy, was evaluated by the on-site inspectors and self-evaluated by the operators using the Quick Exposure Check. The exposure value, exposure level, and exposure rate of WMSDs were assessed based on the procedure-related physical loads on the back, shoulders/arms, wrists/hands and neck, as well as the loads from work rhythm and work pressure.@*Results@#All surveyed subjects were females who were aged mostly between 26-30 years (49.46%) , with a mean age of 29.66±5.28 years. These nurses were mainly from the Department of Infection (28.99%) and Spine Surgery (21.56%) . There were significant differences in the back, shoulders/arms, neck, work rhythm, and work pressure scores between different nursing procedures (F=16.613, 5.884, 3.431, 3.222, and 5.085, respectively; P<0.05) . Patient-turning nursing procedures resulted in high to intermediate physical load in nurses. Procedures with high to low level of WMSDs exposure were patient turning (72.69%) , bed linen changing (67.15%) , patient transfer (65.82%) , and chest physiotherapy (58.34%) . In particular, patient turning was considered as very high-risk procedure, whereas others were considered as high-risk procedures.@*Conclusion@#Patient-turning nursing procedures result in high ergonomic load in the operators. Therefore, more focus should be placed on the ergonomics of the caretakers and nurses.