Musculoskeletal complaints among a group of Turkish nurses

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to describe the prevalence and distribution of symptoms of musculoskeletal complaints among Turkish nurses who are practicing general nursing. The study population consisted of 120 nursing staff from four large general hospitals in Erzurum, Turkey. In every hospital six departments (surgery, medical, obstetric and gynecology, psychiatry, pediatric, and neurology) were selected. A Nordic standardized questionnaire described by Kuorinka et al. (1987) about complaints of the musculoskeletal system and a self-administered questionnaire involved information on the respondent's job and employment history, individual characteristics, physical and psychosocial risk factors at work, and general health status, were used by the researchers. Test data were analyzed for the difference between two population proportion and percentage. In the total population, 90% of all nurses reported at least one musculoskeletal complaint, 60% reported at least two, and 36% reported spells of three complaints in the past 6 months. Low back complaints were the most prevalent of musculoskeletal complaints, reported by 69% of the nurses. Neck complaints were less prevalent than shoulder (46% and 54%, respectively). Nurses with back complaint more often reported neck (28%) and shoulder (34%) complaints. Chronic low back, neck, and shoulder complaints were experienced by 41%, 25%, and 33% nurses, respectively. On the other hand, chronic complaints showed a correlation with working departments. The nurses working in surgery and obstetric and gynecology departments have more chronic complaints than the nurses working in other department (p<.05). The article's findings do not differ from those of other countries. Despite its limitations, this study points to the importance of perceived worked-related physical demands in relation to reported neck, shoulder, and back musculoskeletal complaints in Turkish nurses. But, further inquiries are needed to identify other physical exposures that may be related to musculoskeletal complaints.

Work Related Neck Pain and Its Associated Factors among Registered Female Nurses Who Are Computer Users in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre

“…As abovementioned in table 1 the results of neck pain severity in terms of working departments in last month in this study between 15 September and 15 October 2012 is to some extent in agreement with a study was done in Turkey among the nurses, to determine the prevalence rates and the risk factors of WMSDs of low back, shoulder and neck complaints, and the results have showed that and the nurses who were working in the departments of general surgery and obstetrics & gynecology had more WMSDs complaints than the nurses in other departments 10 . Also neck pain disability have assessed through neck pain interfering with daily work activities according to study in Belgium 3 ,and in this study the respondents have reported that neck pain interfered with their activities from minimum one day to maximum three weeks, on average one neck pain have interfered them about 7 days in doing their daily work activities during working hours, regardless the working departments.…”

Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Turkish Hospital Nurses

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The occurrence of occupational health hazards in districts health facilities in Kigali, Rwanda

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