NIOSH Research Efforts to Prevent Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Healthcare Industry

Abstract

Healthcare workers, including orthopaedic nurses, face a number of risk factors in the workplace for musculoskeletal disorders such as back and shoulder injuries. These disorders are associated with excessive back and shoulder loading due to manual patient handling, applying excessive forces during pushing and/or pulling of objects, required use of awkward postures during patient care, and working long hours and shiftwork. No healthcare workers are immune from injury because workers in all clinical areas are exposed to occupational risk factors, including hospitals, nursing homes, emergency services, critical care, operating rooms, orthopaedic units, and home healthcare environments. This article includes a summary of the scientific efforts of the researchers and their partners at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in evaluating and developing the best practice recommendations for reducing risk of these disorders for exposed workers. The studies conducted by NIOSH researchers and their partners approach the problem from a variety of perspectives, ranging from comprehensive epidemiological studies examining the effectiveness of implementation of a safe patient handling and movement program to laboratory studies evaluating the biomechanical stress associated with using patient handling equipment, and education training programs for use in schools of nursing to educate new workers about safe work practices. Results of these studies have provided scientific evidence that significant occupational risks for musculoskeletal disorders exist and that effective interventions are available to reduce the risk for these workers.

Work-related musculoskeletal risks associated with nurses and nursing assistants handling overweight and obese patients: A literature review

“…The tasks that nurses and nursing assistants are expected to perform on a daily basis involves large amounts of weight, awkward postures, confined working environments, excessive manual forces, extended task duration, and high frequency/repetitions. Health care worker experiences a number of risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace, such as back and shoulder injuries [12]. The frequency and severity of the contact to these risk factors differ, depending on the type of healthcare setting.…”

Musculoskeletal pain among critical-care nurses by availability and use of patient lifting equipment: An analysis of cross-sectional survey data

“…Unsafe patient handling is a major risk factor for musculoskeletal injuries among nurses (Waters et al, 2006). Each year, more than 10,000 nurses in the United States experience work-related musculoskeletal disorders resulting in lost work days and nurses rank among the top five occupations for musculoskeletal disorders (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010).…”

Combined Effects of Physical Demands and Shift Working on Low Back Disorders Among Nursing Personnel

“…Investigating the impact of each physical demand item showed that awkward body posture, repetitive motions and pressure with hands or wrists are associated with prevalence of LBDs independently. Many studies have shown that perceived physical demands such as polling/pushing heavy objects, moving/lifting/lowering heavy load, performing repetitive motions with hands/wrist and bending or twisting the body were significantly associated with MSDs [28,29,30,31]. The results of the present study are in accordance with the findings of Choobineh, Rajaeefard and Neghab's study which found that high levels of perceived physical demands (scores 10-12 of JCQ) were significantly associated with prevalence of LBDs compared to low-medium levels (scores 0-9 of JCQ).…”