[Self-reported musculoskeletal symptoms among nursing personnel]

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate musculoskeletal symptoms among female members of the nursing personnel. The sample consisted of 105 female nursing aides and technicians who were working at a university hospital with highly dependent patients. The questionnaire was composed of items on demographic and job-factor information and the symptom section was a modification of the "Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire". In this study, 93% of the health workers reported at least one musculoskeletal symptom in the previous 12 months. The highest prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was in the following anatomical areas: low back (59%), shoulders (40%), knees (33.3%) and neck (28.6%). As a result of musculoskeletal pain, 29.5% of the respondents reported missing work and 47.6% reported having had an appointment to see a physician in the previous 12 months. Limited experience on the job and in the present unit were also observed among those who had more frequent complaints of pain in the knees (p=0.0272) and low back pain (p=0.0332), respectively. However, hand/wrist pain occurred more often among the participants with the higher numbers of weekly worked hours (OR=3.72:1.26