Evaluation of Ergonomic Risk of Manual Handling of Patients with MAPO Index and its Relationship with Incidence of Low Back Pain among Nurses

Abstract

Abstract. Low back pain (LBP) is the most common and most costly musculoskeletal disorder among nursing profession. The ergonomic risk factors are common causes of lumbar injury. This study aims to assess the risk of LBP among nurses in different wards of an Iranian subspecialty hospital by means of MAPO method and to investigate if there is any relationship between calculated index and the self-reported LBP. The study was conducted in 16 sections of an Iranian subspecialty hospital including 174 wards. Exposed nursing staff (N=54) were asked to report LBP experiences in the past year. Our results indicated that approximately 90% of examined wards were in the red band while only 9% were in the yellow and 1% in the green bands. Among all nurses who worked in the high risk wards, 25% reported suffering LBP during the past 12 months. However, 16% of those who were in the medium risk wards also experienced LBP in the past year. Chi-square test showed a significant relationship between LBP incidence and the level of MAPO index (p=0.004). This study suggests that the frequency of LBP among nurses is higher than the general population. The fact that most of the studied wards felt in the red band indicates the elevated risk for low back in the majority of the hospital wards. It is therefore necessary to implement an ergonomic program in order to modify the observed deleterious condition as soon as possible.

Investigating the Risk of Patient Manual Handling Using the Movement and Assistance of Hospital Patients Method among Hospital Nurses in Botswana

“…The study attributes this to the meticulous considerations in room setups, including in-built shower chairs, rails, hoists, wheelchairs, transfer slides, and ample spacing in rooms and bathrooms. While some published studies [30,38,46] establish a significant association between the MAPO index and LBP, this study finds no statistically significant association. Nonetheless, our study validated the effectiveness of the MAPO method in predicting LBP, which was also found in other similar studies [46].…”

“…Nonetheless, our study validated the effectiveness of the MAPO method in predicting LBP, which was also found in other similar studies [46]. Bivariate regression analysis also fails to establish significant associations between age, length of work, and LBP, contrary to findings in other studies [18,30,[47][48][49][50]. The inconsistencies in these results are attributed to the small sample size and the census method employed in the study.…”

“…The Post-Natal Ward stands out with the highest risk of exposure, boasting a MAPO index score of 27.5. This contradicts previous studies, where the highest recorded MAPO index value was 13.12 from pediatric wards, but aligns with other similar studies, which recorded similar MAPO index scores [29,30,45].…”

“…Nurses are at a higher risk of developing LBP due to their involvement in the manual handling of patients [29,30] as a result of a lack of assistive devices such as hoist machines [25,31] and tasks that involve repetitive bending and twisting movements [14,25,26,31,32], putting additional strain on the lumbar anatomical structures [33]. Several studies on MSD and LBP among nurses have been widely investigated, but in Botswana, only one study was conducted by Kgakge et al reporting a LBP prevalence of 68.6% [28].…”

Musculoskeletal Disorders as Common Problems among Iranian Nurses: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Study

“…The minimum MSDs were reported in 27.5%, 28.1%, 14.3%, 24.5%, 5.2%, 13.4%, 11.8%, 16.4%, and 19.1% of the study sample, whereas the highest rate of disorders was reported in 70.73%, 62.1%, 76.1%, 89.1%, 29.5%, 64.5%, 40.5%, 68.7%, and 68.2% for neck, shoulders, upper back, lower back, elbows, hands, hips, knees, and ankles, respectively. [ 1 6 8 9 12 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 ]…”