Correlation between Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Medical Errors in Surgical Technologists of Mazandaran Educational Hospitals, Iran (2019)

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are among the most common occupational problems facing surgical technologists in the operating room, which could be associated with high costs and a reduction in the healthcare quality. The operating room could be the source of various types of surgical errors caused by numerous invasive procedures. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between musculoskeletal disorders and medical errors in surgical technologists. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out on 201 operating room surgical technologists working at Sari City hospitals. The samples were selected by convenience sampling. Data collection instruments included the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and the operating room-related medical errors questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS software and the Pearson's correlation model. Results: The results showed that disorders in the lumbar and back regions were the most common disorders among surgical technologists with the prevalence of 51.2%. In addition, there was a significant correlation between medical errors and WMSDs in the wrist and knee regions (P <0.05). There was also a significant relationship between gender, BMI, marital status, regular exercise, and weekly working hours with WMSDs, as well as between medical errors and gender (P <0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of WMSDs and medical errors was high among surgical technologists; therefore, given the high-risk environment of the operating room, proper measures must be adopted to reduce WMSDs and medical errors.