Evaluation of ergonomic load of clinical nursing procedures
10.3760/cma.j.issn.1001-9391.2017.08.006
- VernacularTitle: 临床护理操作项目的工效学负荷评价
- Author:
Ping YAN
1
;
Li ZHANG
;
Fuye LI
;
Yi YANG
;
Yanan WANG
;
Amei HUANG
;
Yali DAI
;
Hua YAO
Author Information
1. The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830054, China
- Publication Type:Case Reports
- Keywords:
Workload;
Ergonomics;
Quick exposure check;
Reposition;
Nurses
- From:
Chinese Journal of Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Diseases
2017;35(8):581-584
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To evaluate the ergonomic load of clinical nursing procedures and to provide evidence for the prevention and management of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) in nurses.
Methods:Based on the nursing unit characteristics and the common departments involving patient-turning procedures, 552 nurses were selected from 6 clinical departments from July to September, 2016. The ergonomic load of four types of patient-turning procedures, i.e., turning the patient’s body, changing the bed linen of in-bed patients, moving patients, and chest physiotherapy, was evaluated by the on-site inspectors and self-evaluated by the operators using the Quick Exposure Check. The exposure value, exposure level, and exposure rate of WMSDs were assessed based on the procedure-related physical loads on the back, shoulders/arms, wrists/hands and neck, as well as the loads from work rhythm and work pressure.
Results:All surveyed subjects were females who were aged mostly between 26-30 years (49.46%) , with a mean age of 29.66±5.28 years. These nurses were mainly from the Department of Infection (28.99%) and Spine Surgery (21.56%) . There were significant differences in the back, shoulders/arms, neck, work rhythm, and work pressure scores between different nursing procedures (F=16.613, 5.884, 3.431, 3.222, and 5.085, respectively; P<0.05) . Patient-turning nursing procedures resulted in high to intermediate physical load in nurses. Procedures with high to low level of WMSDs exposure were patient turning (72.69%) , bed linen changing (67.15%) , patient transfer (65.82%) , and chest physiotherapy (58.34%) . In particular, patient turning was considered as very high-risk procedure, whereas others were considered as high-risk procedures.
Conclusion:Patient-turning nursing procedures result in high ergonomic load in the operators. Therefore, more focus should be placed on the ergonomics of the caretakers and nurses.
