Steps walked whilst at work, by University of the Free State medical registrars: an exploratory study

ABSTRACT

Background: Doctors may have physical disabilities affecting their mobility. If they wish to specialise, they need information regarding mobility requirements for various specialities to help them select an appropriate speciality. No research has been published on the differences in physical activity demands in different medical specialities. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the physical activity of medical registrars from six specialist departments at a South African academic hospital. The inference was that those specialities where registrars walked the most would be more challenging for those with physical disabilities, thereby limiting mobility. Methods: The number of steps walked from 0700 to 1600 each day was measured, using Yamax CW-701 pedometers. Kruskall-Wallis tests were used to compare the steps taken in different specialities with the level of significance set at 0.05. Results: Twenty registrars participated in the study. Significant differences in the number of steps walked per day were observed between those from different specialities (p < 0.001). Surgery, paediatric and internal medicine registrars walked the most steps per day (median of 5 991, and 5 880, 5 489, respectively). Anaesthesiology and radiology registrars walked a median of 4 521 and 3 926 steps, respectively. Registrars in obstetrics and gynaecology walked the least steps (median of 1 918). There was considerable variation in steps between participants within a department, and for the same participants on different days. Conclusion: Registrars appeared to be more physically active in some medical specialities than others, in terms of mobility. The wide intra-speciality variation is probably related to differing daily duties. Future studies should include types of work duties (e.g. sedentary vs high physical mobility), cover more specialities, and include more participants.