Low back pain and work‐related factors among nurses in intensive care units

Abstract

Improving nurse staffing, reducing the frequency of night shifts and assessing risk factors in specific intensive care unit specialties are suggested to decrease back pain prevalence.

What are the Most Common Factors Contributing to Physical Lower Back Pain among Working Nurses?-A Systematic Review Study

“…Stress in particular was linked with LBP, confirmed by Yin Bing Yip et al, their study discovered that nurses who felt low satisfaction/ occasional satisfaction with their job were at an increased risk for LBP [19]. Furthermore in another study it was found that nurses who were dissatisfied with staffing had a higher reported incidence of LBP [17]. Understaffed hospitals may be forced to increase the number of night shifts on the available nursing staff, the article had also linked six or more night shifts a month with LBP [17].…”

“…Furthermore in another study it was found that nurses who were dissatisfied with staffing had a higher reported incidence of LBP [17]. Understaffed hospitals may be forced to increase the number of night shifts on the available nursing staff, the article had also linked six or more night shifts a month with LBP [17]. Finally, another article discovered that nurses who had associated their work with incidence of LBP were at an increased risk of developing it in the future [10,20].…”

“…Cho et al [12] the mean age of nurses was 27.2 years. Overall, 90.3% of nurses had back pain at least once a month (21.9% always, 40.7% once a week and 27.2% once a month).…”

“…Due to this problem many nurses have taken sick leaves, but what is more alarming is the fact that many nurses have not received appropriate treatment for their pain [11,16,17]. Many nurses acknowledge their back pain but either don't have the time to treat it, or don't want to fall under the stigma of having a "bad back".…”

“…In many of the studies work experience was examined, in specific years in the current ward and monthly records of night shifts were recorded and were found to have a direct correlation with LBP [7,11,[15][16][17]. Finally psychoanalytic questions were given in some of the studies, stress in the workplace, low satisfaction with colleague relationships, low moods (headaches/ fatigue), and personal beliefs on LBP were all linked with increased incidence of LBP 7, 15, 16.…”