Back injuries among nursing personnel related to exposure

Details

• Personal Author:
  Jensen RC
• Description:
  An investigation was conducted to determine whether epidemiologic data were consistent with the theory that the more times stressful patient handling tasks are performed, the more likely the patient handler will experience an extra stressful incident that could strain a muscle, sprain a ligament, or damage a cartilage end plate in the lumbar spine. Literature was searched for all investigations published between 1967 and 1987 that contained original research on nursing personnel and back problems. Six independent investigations noted a 3.7 times greater prevalence of back injury among nursing personnel who more frequently performed stressful patient handling tasks compared to those who less frequently performed such tasks. The authors suggest that back injury prevention efforts for nursing personnel ought to focus on those nursing jobs involving the greatest frequency of stressful patient handling. The most back stressing tasks should be identified. These tasks should be examined to identify possibilities for elimination, substitution or control. Ideas were presented toward the patient handling aspects of a back injury program for nursing personnel. These ideas included the use of portable patient hoists for lifting the extremely heavy patient, and the use of devices to reduce the intensity of biomechanical stresses associated with patient transfers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Health Personnel Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  AIHYEX Back-injuries Equipment-design Health-care-personnel Manual-lifting Medical-personnel Musculoskeletal-system-disorders NIOSH-Author Nurses
• ISSN:
  1047-322X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  38-45
• Volume:
  5
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00194330
• Citation:
  Appl Occup Environ Hyg 1990 Jan; 5(1):38-45
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1990
• NORA Priority Area:
  Disease and Injury: Musculoskeletal Disorders of the Upper Extremities
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d14d4ab8e28b452c8c89416d8d93b0a85063fa31ad44d3acc235cdc6572c5c9ef642a7a0d98c0485f35c13da9408c24fe6f519bce10f43fba1500c5b6d6f1b96
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/204221/cdc_204221_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.12 MB ]