Objectives: Low back pain is a major occupational problem especially among nursing staff. The objectives of our study are to evaluate the prevalence of low back pain among nurses and to look for physical and psychosocial risk factors. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study based on a self-administered questionnaire destined for all nurses working in Farhat Hached Teaching hospital of Sousse (Tunisia). Results: Our study included 203 nurses with an average age of 39.8 years. The prevalence of low back pain over the last twelve months was 58.1%. The factors that are significantly associated to low back pain were: high BMI, number of pregnancies, arthritis, poor physical condition, daily frequency of inappropriate posture for the activity being performed, and the layout of materials in the workplace. Conclusion: Our study evidenced the high prevalence of LBP among nurses and allowed bringing to light the role of individual and ergonomic physical factors in the genesis of LBP. Such identification permits to undertake targeted preventive actions. The association between psychosocial factors and LBP was not emphasized.

Background Stress has been recently implicated as a contributing factor of hand eczema (HE) severity. However, published data are both rare and contradictory justifying the need of further research. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relation between stress and HE severity. Methods This is a cross-sectional study enrolling all patients who have been attending the Dermato-allergology unit of Farhat Hached University Hospital of Sousse over a period of one year. The HE severity was assessed by the Osnabrück Hand Eczema Severity Index (OHSI). The stress level was assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) in its validated Arabic version. Results During the study period, 109 participants meeting the inclusion criteria were identified. The mean age was 40 ± 9.9 years with a sex-ratio of 0.8. Severe eczema was found in 76 participants (69.7%). A high level of perceived stress was found in 18.3% of cases. A statistically significant association was noted between HE severity and the high level of perceived stress (p=0.039, OR = 4.46, 95% CI [0.96–20.59]) and the number of dependent children ≥3 (p=0.0039, OR = 1.92, 95% CI [0.51–7.22]). Leisure activity was found to be a protective factor against HE severity (p=0.031, OR = 0.27, 95% CI [0.09–0.80]). Conclusion Although the link between the severity of eczema and atopy, wet work, and contact with irritants and allergens is well known, the relation remains questionable for other factors including stress.

Background. Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is a common chronic skin disease that generates considerable public-health and socioeconomic costs. This disease affects the quality of life and the occupational activity of patients. Aims. To assess the quality of life (QOL) of patients with ACD and study the impact of this disease on their work productivity. Methods. This is a cross-sectional study carried out from January 2012 to December 2014. All patients diagnosed with ACD in the Dermato-Allergology Unit of the Occupational Medicine Department at Farhat Hached University Hospital, in Sousse, were included. The impact of skin disease on the QOL of affected persons was assessed using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). The work productivity was measured using the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Allergic Specific questionnaire (WPAI: AS). Results. The study population consisted of 150 patients. The average score of DLQI was 6.5. Over the previous 7 days, absenteeism rate was 25.9 ± 15.3%, presenteeism rate was 50.2 ± 32%, overall work productivity loss was 29.6 ± 19.4%, and daily activity impairment was 50.4 ± 32.3%. The DLQI score was significantly associated with atopy (p = 0.03), relapses strictly greater than 10 (p = 0.02), presenteeism (p <10−3), overall work productivity loss (p = 0.01), and daily activity impairment (p = 0.03). Conclusion. The impact of ACD on QOL and occupational activity seems important and requires specific attention from the occupational physician.

The operating theatre staff is exposed to various constraints such as excessive working hours, severe medical conditions and dreadful consequences in case of malpractice. These working conditions may lead to high and chronic levels of stress, which can interfere with medical staff well-being and patients quality of care. The aim of this study is toassess the impact of music therapy on stress levels and burnout risk on the operating room staff. This is a preexperimental study including the operating rooms staff of urology and maxillofacial surgery in the academic hospital of Sahloul Sousse (Tunisia) over a period of six weeks. The study consisted of three phases. The first was an initial assessment of stress level with a predefined survey. The second included three music therapy sessions per day over one month. The third was an immediate stress level reassessment following the intervention. Stress levels were evaluated using the Perceived Stress Scale version PSS-10 and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The overall response rate was 73.9%.The average age of the study population was 37.8 ± 7.7 years with a female predominance (64.7%). After the music therapy program, Perceived Stress Scale average score decreased from 22 ± 8.9 to 16 ± 7.9 (p = 0.006). Concerning the burnout, only the average score of emotional exhaustion decreased significantly from 27 ± 10.8 to 19.2 ± 9.5 (p = 0.004). Music therapy is an innovative approach that seems to reduce operating theatre staff stress. It must be considered as a non pharmacological, simple, economic and non invasive preventive tool.