Background. Musculoskeletal disorders have continued to plague nurses in hospitals and long-term care facilities. Low back and\nshoulder injuries are the most prevalent, frequently linked to patient handling activities. Exposure to patient handling has been\npredominantly quantified by subjective responses of nurses. Objective. To directly observe handling of patients and other medical\nequipment for nurses during a 12-hour work shift. Methods. Twenty nurses working in three different intensive care units at a\nMidwest teaching hospital were directly observed during 12-hour day shifts. Direct observation included documenting frequency\nand type of handling performed and whether lift assist devices were utilized. Two additional surveys were completed by nurses to\nassess current pain levels and perceptions of lifting being performed. The observed lifting was compared to the perceived lifting\nwith simple inference statistics. Results. Nurses have a high prevalence of manually lifting patients and medical devices but limited\nuse of lifting assist devices. Nurses handled patients 69 times per shift and medical equipment 6 times per shift, but less than 3%\nutilized a lift assist device. Nurses suffered from high levels of pain at the end of the shift, with the highest prevalence in the lower\nback, lower legs, and feet/ankles (all above 60%).
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