MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS IN-HOSPITAL NURSES - A COMPARISON BETWEEN 2HOSPITALS

Nursing staff members of a urban general hospital (GH) and a small onc ological department (OD) were surveyed to determine the prevalence of occupational related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), the specific di sabilities, accidents at work, and working time lost. All subjects had a medical examination to evaluate osteoarthicular disease and selecte d cases were invited to X-ray examinations. The purpose of this study was to compare MSDs in the two groups of nurses working in two hospita ls with different work organization in the same geographical area, Por denone in Italy. In the previous year 48% GH and 33% OD nurses reporte d back pain due to work, 29.4 and 16.1% respectively have had X-ray or orthopaedic examinations, 19.2% and 9.1% had been away from work beca use of back pain. All these differences are statistically significant. The analysis of musculoskeletal pain sites and working tasks in the t wo hospital workers shows no differences in distribution. Great differ ence exists when analysing the numbers of patients assisted by a nurse : 0.57 and 1.27 nurse/patients respectively in GH and OD. Our data ind icate a high overall frequency of occupational back pain, similar to o ther studies in Europe. The comparison between the two hospitals sugge sts factors associated with the disorder: work tasks and particularly nurses/patients ratio are more important factors than age and length o f exposure. Different work distribution, shift organization, a better ratio between nurses and patients, an improvement of equipment provisi on, and specific nurse-training with application of ergonomic methods could improve work efficiency radically and decrease injury rates.