Physical and Psychosocial Work Environmental Risk Factors for Back Injury among Healthcare Workers: Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract

The incidence of occupational back injury in the healthcare sector remains high despite decades of efforts to reduce such injuries. This prospective cohort study investigated the risk factors for back injury during patient transfer. Healthcare workers (n = 2080) from 314 departments at 17 hospitals in Denmark replied to repeated questionnaires sent every 14 days for one year. Using repeated-measures binomial logistic regression, controlling for education, work, lifestyle, and health, the odds for back injury (i.e., sudden onset episodes) were modeled. On the basis of 482 back injury events, a higher number of patient transfers was an important risk factor, with odds ratio (OR) 3.58 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.51–5.10) for 1–4 transfers per day, OR 7.60 (5.14–11.22) for 5–8 transfers per day, and OR 8.03 (5.26–12.27) for 9 or more transfers per day (reference: less than 1 per day). The lack of necessary assistive devices was a common phenomenon during back injury events, with the top four lacking devices being sliding sheets (30%), intelligent beds (19%), walking aids (18%), and ceiling lifts (13%). For the psychosocial factors, poor collaboration between and support from colleagues increased the risk for back injury, with OR 3.16 (1.85–5.39). In conclusion, reducing the physical burden in terms of number of daily patient transfers, providing the necessary assistive devices, and cultivating good collaboration between colleagues are important factors in preventing occupational back injuries among healthcare workers.

Interaction Effects of Physical and Psychosocial Working Conditions on Risk for Sickness Absence: A Prospective Study of Nurses and Care Assistants in Sweden

“…Results with a similar magnitude of excess risks of sickness absence were found for the combinations of job control and heavy physical work and strenuous postures, respectively. These results are in-line with research reviews and previous studies on how combinations of physical and psychosocial exposures among health and social care workers affect health, sickness absence, or disability [ 24 , 26 , 27 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 49 ].…”

“…Research reviews and individual studies among health and social care workers have shown that heavy lifting, twisting, and bending often are combined with urgent time pressure and low possibilities to determine the work pace, conditions known to increase the risk of musculoskeletal disorders, sickness absence, and disability [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. However, the effect of the combined exposure of psychosocial and physical risk factors on future health and sickness absence among health and care employees is rarely studied in terms of interaction effects; instead, the focus has been on single factors [ 34 , 35 , 36 ].…”

Poor Sleep Is a Risk Factor for Low-Back Pain among Healthcare Workers: Prospective Cohort Study

“…Specifically, we investigated the potential dose-response relationships between subjective ratings of sleep quality (poor, moderate or good) at baseline and risk of a 1-point increase in LBP intensity on the visual analog scale (VAS) at follow-up. We have previously reported prospective associations between patient transfers and risk of back injury in this population [25].…”

Health Care Workers’ Experiences of Workplace Incidents that Posed a Risk of Patient and Worker Injury: A Critical Incident Technique Analysis

“…In Western countries, injury rates are higher among health care workers (HCWs) than among workers in any other eld [1]. Being in patient care, HCWs are exposed to several occupational health hazards, such as viruses [2], ergonomic or physical hazards [3,4] and physical violence [5]. Threats and violence are in fact more frequently reported in Swedish health care than in other Swedish workplaces, and the percentage of those exposed has increased in the last years [6].…”