A survey of static and dynamic work postures of operating room staff

Work in health care units is associated with considerable physical strain and many musculoskeletal complaints. Most investigations have concentrated on the work of general hospital nurses; little is known about the physical stress load on other health care workers. We therefore carried out an ergono...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International archives of occupational and environmental health 1992-02, Vol.63 (6), p.423-428
Main Authors: KANT, I. J, DE JONG, L. C. G. M, VAN RIJSSEN-MOLL, M, BORM, P. J. A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Ergometry
Ergonomics. Work place. Occupational physiology
Female
General Surgery
Hospitals, University
Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena
Netherlands
Nurses
Occupational Health
Operating Room Technicians
Posture - physiology
Space life sciences
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Work in health care units is associated with considerable physical strain and many musculoskeletal complaints. Most investigations have concentrated on the work of general hospital nurses; little is known about the physical stress load on other health care workers. We therefore carried out an ergonomic study amongst operating room staff in order to (i) determine the work (posture) stress load on this particular group of health care workers and the effect of static posture on this stress, (ii) identify activities involving poor work postures, and (iii) determine differences between specialties in regard to work posture stress load. The work postures and related work activities of four different groups of staff in operating rooms (surgeons, assistant anaesthesists, instrumentation nurses and circulating nurses) were recorded and evaluated using the specified Ovako Working posture Analysing System (OWAS). Observation during the course of 18 daily surgical programmes (total number of observations: 3714) in the specialties general surgery and ear-nose-throat (ENT) surgery revealed that the work-load according to OWAS for circulating nurses and assistant anaesthesists was not harmful. Some work postures seen among instrumentation nurses and surgeons, however, need improvement. The work posture stress load in these groups is mainly due to the high prevalence of static work postures during the activities "surgery" (surgeons) and "assisting surgery" (instrumentation nurses). Significant differences in ergonomic stress load were observed between general surgeons and ENT surgeons. This survey in operating theatres relates work postures to basic activities and can be used as a starting point from which to improve work conditions in order to reduce or eliminate physical complaints among operating room staff.
ISSN:0340-0131
1432-1246
DOI:10.1007/bf00386939