Ergonomics and Nursing in Hospital Environments

Abstract

This study describes workplace conditions, the environment, and activities that may contribute to musculoskeletal injuries among nurses, as well as identifies solutions to decrease these risks and improve work-related conditions. The study used a mixed-methods design. Participants included nurses and stakeholders from five hospitals. Several focus groups were held with nurses, walk-throughs of clinical units were conducted, and stakeholder interviews with key occupational health and safety personnel were conducted in each of the five hospitals, as well as with representatives from the American Nurses Association, Veterans Health Administration hospital, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Several key contributing factors, including the physical environment (e.g., layout and organization of work stations), work organization and culture (e.g., heavy workload, inadequate staffing, lack of education), and work activities (e.g., manual lifting of patients, lack of assistive devices), were identified. Recommendations included the need for a multifaceted and comprehensive approach to developing a sound ergonomics program.

Evaluation of the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in nurses: A systematic review

“…Some study samples included small proportions of nurses such as 42, 58, 76 nurses [18,30,40], some included large samples 5187, 3914 and 2851 nurses [14,22,47]. Many studies examined the all risk factors for MSDs, a few studies addressed only psychosocial factors for MSDs.…”

“…Studies demonstrated that relations of PSFs and physical exhaustion have likely increased the risk of MSDs in nurses. High perceived workload, role conflicts, low job satisfaction, poor social support, time pressure, low justice and respect in the workplace were among those factors constantly effected these disorders in several studies [7,21,[30][31][32][33].…”

Occupational Health Related Hazard among Workers at Al-Najaf Governmental Cement Factories

“…To evaluate the risks that affect workers in all fields of industry workers must determine the proportion of those risks and processed by sticking to the duties of occupational safety and guidance and tools that serve to protect the interests of the world (Rogers et al, 2013).…”

Patient transfer skills and safety culture

“…[6] Musculoskeletal disorders entail costs for disabled workers, as well as costs for the society. [5,7,8] On the other hand, Norway in line with other western countries, face challenges in maintaining adequate capacity for care of a growing proportion of elderly people. [9,10] Patient transfer as a workload and health risk issue has had considerable attention from the early 1990s, when research began to demonstrate benefits from the use of mechanical lifting equipment and friction-reducing devices.…”

“…[9,10] Patient transfer as a workload and health risk issue has had considerable attention from the early 1990s, when research began to demonstrate benefits from the use of mechanical lifting equipment and friction-reducing devices. [8,11] Research also pointed to single measures having little effect on quality of patient handling practices and work-related disorders. [1,2,[12][13][14][15] A body of research supports the need of multifaceted approaches to reduce the risk of patient handling injuries to caregivers.…”