Back Pain Prevalence in Nursing Personnel: Measurement Issues

Details

• Personal Author:
  Menzel NN
• Description:
  The problem of work related musculoskeletal disorders of the low back in nursing personnel has been well documented in the literature by cross sectional studies showing high prevalence rates in licensed nurses and nursing aides. However, it is difficult to compare findings among these studies because of the use of nonstandardized symptom surveys, variations in case definitions, and other methodological inconsistencies. 2. Measuring the change in current back pain prevalence yields more timely information about the effectiveness of an ergonomic intervention than assessing injury incidence rates, because of the high percent of nursing staff members who work in pain but delay filing workers' compensation claims. 3. As employers attempt to reduce manual handling injuries, occupational health nurses may be called upon to survey workers for musculoskeletal symptom prevalence and document the effectiveness of ergonomic interventions. Before using or developing any musculoskeletal disorder symptom survey for workplace surveillance or research, occupational health nurses should determine whether the survey has adequate reliability, validity, responsiveness, and practicality. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Ergonomics Health Personnel Home Care Services Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace
• Keywords:
  Back Pain Health Care Personnel Health Care Workers Home Health Care Injuries Manual Lifting Medical Personnel MSD Musculoskeletal Disorders Musculoskeletal System Disorders Nurses Nursing Occupational Safety And Health Administration OSHA Questionnaires Statistical Analysis Work Environment Workers

  More +
• ISSN:
  0891-0162
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  54-65
• Volume:
  52
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058470
• Citation:
  AAOHN J 2004 Feb; 52(2):54-65
• Contact Point Address:
  Nancy N Menzel, College of Nursing, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard School of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20030701
• Source Full Name:
  AAOHN Journal - American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Journal
• End Date:
  20050630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7247eb2c1aa81d15278d5e83d31b3ad3efe891af97ebda5fc80ffc1dabc8958481be32f48a15b02470e0294cffbadf3f748a7f380861d6a3007928d557d145e5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/221559/cdc_221559_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.40 MB ]