Prevalence and risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders among Tunisian nurses

Musculoskeletal problems depict essentially the most worrying difficulties inside work health today.

To evaluate the prevalence of musculoskeltal issues and to search relationships with individual characteristics and work-related risk factors among two public hospitals nurses in Sousse.

It is a descriptive-correlational investigation based on a self-administered questionnaire destined for all nurses working in two public hospitals of Sousse. The potential risk of musculoskeletal issues was examined by logistical regression.

The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) over the last twelve months was 48.1%. Musculoskeletal problems developed mainly in low back (68.5%), upper back (36.9%), and knees (34.5%). The Chi-square test indicated that MSD is associated with female gender (p = 0.01), being single (p = 0.013), high BMI (p <0.001), seniority (p =0.001), repetitive work (p = 0.004), prolonged standing position (p = 0.007), intense physical effort (p <0.001), lifting heavy loads (p = 0.002), uncomfortable position (p = 0.008) and low social support (p <0.001). The logistic regression analysis showed that intense physical exertion (OR= 7.72, 95% CI: 2.98 - 19.97) and job-strain (OR= 3.24, 95% CI: 2.98 - 19.97) represent risk factors related to MSD.

A high amount of Tunisian nursing staff in this survey complained of musculoskeletal issues considering the low back pain most often affected. Education courses on prevention and coping approaches for musculoskeletal problems are appropriate for nurses as a way to minimize the rate of work risks and even promote performance patient care.