Patient manual handling risk assessment among hospital nurses

Manual patient handling is known to be the major source of musculoskeletal load among hospital nurses.

The objectives of this study were to determine prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), assess patient manual handling risk and identify major factors associated with MSDs symptoms among hospital nursing staff.

This cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 randomly selected nurses from 75 wards of 11 hospitals. Data were collected by demographic and Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaires together with MAPO checklist. Prevalence of MSDs was estimated with confidence interval of 95%. Chi-square test and independent sample t-test were used to investigate differences of MSDs prevalence for demographic variables between the subjects with and without MSDs. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed (forward: Wald) to determine MSDs associated risk factors.

The means of age and job tenure in subjects were 30.76 ± 6.44 and 6.92 ± 5.75 years, respectively. Some form of musculoskeletal symptoms had been experienced during the last 12 months by 88.2% of the subjects. MAPO assessment revealed that 83.5% of the individuals were at risk. Statistical analysis showed that job tenure, nurse to bed ratio, gender, shift working and MAPO score were associated with MSDs (p< 0.05).

Prevalence of MSDs in hospital nursing personnel was high and the occurrence of MSDs was found to be associated with MAPO score. Based on the results, to improve working conditions, it is imperative to provide lifting equipment, implement training programs and increase nurse to bed ratio in hospitals.