Assessing the Work Activities Related to Musculoskeletal Disorder among Critical Care Nurses

Abstract

Nurses are physically exhausted with an incidence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), especially those working in critical care units that require exhaustive physical efforts to fulfill patients’ needs. The current study aims to assess work activities related to the occurrence of MSDs in nurses working in critical care units. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 100 nurses of critical care units, and the data were collected via a survey questionnaire. The study was conducted at King Fahad University Hospital for three months from February to April 2019. The study findings revealed that work activities related to MSD were associated with sociodemographic data, age, and neck pain (rho = 0.063) ( p = 0.03 ) and lower back pain (rho = 0.89) ( p = 0.03 ); education level with hip/thigh pain (rho = 0.64) ( p = 0.03 ); standing time with shoulder pain (rho = 0.66) ( p = 0.04 ), wrist/hand pain (rho = −0.75) ( p = 0.05 ), hip/thigh pain (rho = −0.78) ( p = 0.004 ), and knee pain (rho = −0.77) ( p = 0.005 ). An increased prevalence of MSDs with lower back pain (92%) and upper back pain (56%) was estimated among the nurses, and a negative impact of work-related MSDs on occupational health and daily life activities of the nurses was also observed. The study concluded that the occurrence of MSDs is significantly associated with sociodemographic data: age, BMI experience level, and educational level of nurses of critical care units.

Risk factor of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among health workers

“…Studies by (Aleid et al, 2021;Doda et al, 2020;Hosseini et al, 2021;Krishnan et al, 2021;Lin et al, 2020;Luan et al, 2018;Raithatha & Mishra, 2016;Ribeiro et al, 2017;Skela-Savič et al, 2017;Tsekoura Maria et al, 2017;Yan et al, 2018) stated that nurses who are older are at risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders. A study by (Aleid et al, 2021;Krishnan et al, 2021) states that a low level of education is a risk factor for the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders in nurses. Heavy physical workload can also cause musculoskeletal disorders in nurses (Aleid et al, 2021).…”

“…A study by (Aleid et al, 2021;Krishnan et al, 2021) states that a low level of education is a risk factor for the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders in nurses. Heavy physical workload can also cause musculoskeletal disorders in nurses (Aleid et al, 2021).…”

“…Nursing as a permanent job is also a risk factor for musculoskeletal disorders in nurses (Hosseini et al, 2021;Krishnan et al, 2021). Studies by (Aleid et al, 2021;Krishnan et al, 2021;Latina et al, 2020;Passali et al, 2018;Raithatha & Mishra, 2016;Ribeiro et al, 2017) stated that BMI is a risk factor for the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders in nurses. The place of work unit also affects the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders in nurses (Lin et al, 2020;Yan et al, 2017Yan et al, , 2018Younan et al, 2019).…”

“…Long standing time, often lifting heavy weights, and the presence of injuries to the waist are risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders in nurses (Aleid et al, 2021;Ouni et al, 2020;Passali et al, 2018). The frequency of physical exercise also affects the presence of musculoskeletal disorders in nurses (Ribeiro et al, 2017;Yao et al, 2019).…”

Literature Review : Effect of Static Conditions on Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs)

“…(2021). Saudi Arabia [10] To examine work activities related to the incidence of MSDs in nurses who work in intensive care rooms This study used a cross sectional design with a questionnaire research instrument with closed questions.…”