Evaluation of ergonomic risks for work-related musculoskeletal disorders of nursing tasks in Korea

Among all industrial accident-induced diseases, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are most prominently observed among nurses. The physical load of everyday tasks involved in nursing work was assessed in this study using a developed risk index, whereby the physical burden was evaluated using the expos...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics 2024-01, Vol.30 (1), p.1-8
Main Authors: Hwang, Jaejin, Park, Du-Jin, Lee, Jinwon, Lee, Kyung-Sun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
musculoskeletal disorders
nursing tasks
physical load
risk index
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Summary:Among all industrial accident-induced diseases, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are most prominently observed among nurses. The physical load of everyday tasks involved in nursing work was assessed in this study using a developed risk index, whereby the physical burden was evaluated using the exposure duration and work intensity levels. This survey targeted nine small, medium and large-sized hospitals in South Korea and categorized representative nursing tasks into six groups. The subtasks within these six categories (evaluated as high risk) included changing a patient's posture and assisting with walkers or wheelchairs, transporting/handling drug carts, bathing patients, replacing bedding, traction therapy, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and artificial manual breathing unit, and computer work. The risk index ratio was significantly different by task type for each task. We demonstrated that the risk index developed in this study can be used to evaluate MSDs in hospitals.
ISSN:1080-3548
2376-9130
DOI:10.1080/10803548.2022.2157123