Musculoskeletal Load Assessment in Hospital Nurses with Patient Transfer Activity

Manual patient handling is known to be the major source of musculoskeletal load among hospital nurses. The objectives of the present study were determination of frequency of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and its associated factors together with assessment of musculoskeletal load due to patient transfer by PTAI method in hospital nursing staff of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS), Iran. In this crosssectional study, 400 randomly selected nurses of SUMS hospital participated. Data were collected by anonymous demographic and Nordic Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaires together with PTAI index checklist. Statistical analyses were undertaken using SPSS, version 16. Age and job tenure means of participants were 30.76±6.44 and 6.92±5.75 years, respectively. 88.2% of the nursing staff reported some forms of musculoskeletal symptoms during the 12 months prior to the study. The results of PTAI index assessment demonstrated that in 4%, 8.5% and 87.5% of the subjects, musculoskeletal load were at levels 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The results revealed that PTAI index score was significantly associated with musculoskeletal disorders occurrence (p < 0.001). Musculoskeletal load was high among nurses with patient transfer activity. Age, nurse to bed ratio, marital status, shift work and PTAI score were associated risk factors for MSDs in the studied nursing staff.