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Ergonomic Instruments and Techniques Used by Health Care Workers to Reduce Musculoskeletal Disorders in Humacao, Puerto Rico



Details

  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    Objective: Our sample of interest is the homecare workers hired by agencies and hospices. It is known that patient's houses are insecure because they don't have the facilities that a hospital or a caring center has. For the Occupational Safety and Health Agency is difficult to reach these environments and to make them follow the ergonomic guidelines. In In Puerto Rico as in the US it is difficult to reach health care workers that are live-ins. Our objective is to study health care workers from different agencies, (live-ins, health care visits and hospices) in order to determine their injury profile. Methods: We will administer a survey to a convenience sample of 18 healthcare workers to study their incidence of musculoskeletal disorders in Puerto Rico. We are going to use open and closed questions to make a descriptive analysis of the situation in Puerto Rico. Results: Many of the health care workers interviewed recognize the necessity of education, instruments and tools to assist and minimize musculoskeletal disorders. Seventeen of 18 have pains or injuries in their body after work. The back is the most affected part of the body. Few employees report using ergonomic instruments to make lifts or transfers of patients, such as the gait belt and the transfer board. The mayority of them want extra help from somebody else in lifting and handling patients to and from the bed. Conclusion: In Puerto Rico we had seen that the situation is very similar to the one exhibited by these workers in the US. Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the biggest problems of home healthcare workers, nurses, assistants and caregivers. Organizations need to take action to implement equipment, instruments, and workshops to show techniques and educate health care workers regarding safe lifting and patients handling. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • Publisher:
    University of South Florida (USF)
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Grant
  • Genre:
    Abstract or Summary
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Pages in Document:
    21
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20064339
  • Citation:
    Sunshine ERC Research Poster Session/USF Health Research Day, February 21-23, 2013, Tampa, Florida. Tampa, FL: University of South Florida (USF), 2013 Feb; :21
  • Contact Point Address:
    Sheila M. Serrano, UPR-RCM Msc.Industrial Hygiene Graduate Student
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2013
  • Performing Organization:
    Sunshine Education and Research Center, University of South Florida
  • Peer Reviewed:
    False
  • Start Date:
    20050701
  • Source Full Name:
    Sunshine ERC Research Poster Session/USF Health Research Day, February 21-23, 2013, Tampa, Florida
  • End Date:
    20290630
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:046f6517d245365e8e031ad9f206a4de62e78b6a41d752add08568292966133de5c49853edbbb52e672a462032a02dbeb148dd1c7d12abf138f1b2748cf594a7
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 183.49 KB ]
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