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Musculoskeletal Symptoms in Nurses in the Early Implementation Phase of California's Safe Patient Handling Legislation.
- Source :
- Research in Nursing & Health; Jun2015, Vol. 38 Issue 3, p183-193, 11p
- Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- Musculoskeletal injuries and symptoms are prevalent in nurses and are largely associated with strenuous patient handling. In 2011, California enacted legislation that required acute-care hospitals to implement safe patient handling (SPH) policies and programs. To assess the early phase of this legislation, we conducted an epidemiological assessment of organizational SPH practices, musculoskeletal symptoms, and perceptions in a random sample of 396 registered nurses. Among those who worked in hospitals and had patient handling duties ( n = 220), the 12 month prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal symptoms was 69% (lower back 54%, neck 41%, shoulders 34%, and hands/wrists 26%). Twenty-two percent of the nurses reported that their hospitals had a 'no-lift' policy, 37% reported that their hospitals had lift teams, and 61% reported the availability of mechanical lift equipment such as floor or ceiling lifts. Nurses whose facilities employed lift teams were significantly less likely to report low back pain ( OR = 0.54, 95% CI [0.30-0.97]). Nurses whose units had ceiling lifts were significantly less likely to report shoulder pain than nurses with no access to lifts ( OR = 0.32, 95% CI [0.10-0.98]). Roughly 60% of respondents were aware of the SPH law, and 33% reported changes in their hospital's patient handling policies or programs since the law went into effect. Hospital SPH practices reported by the nurses in our sample were generally sub-optimal, but our findings suggest positive effects of elements required by SPH legislation. These data will serve as the baseline for future evaluation of the impact of this law in California. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- INDUSTRIAL safety
INDUSTRIAL safety laws
QUALITY of work life
BACK injuries
BACKACHE
CHI-squared test
CONFIDENCE intervals
CORPORATE culture
DECISION making
PSYCHOLOGICAL distress
EMPLOYMENT
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL research
FISHER exact test
HEALTH facilities
HEALTH facility administration
HEALTH services administration
ERGONOMICS
WORK-related injuries
JOB descriptions
LIFTING & carrying (Human mechanics)
MANAGEMENT
MUSCULOSKELETAL system diseases
NURSES
NURSES' attitudes
NURSING
NURSING specialties
PATIENT positioning
QUESTIONNAIRES
RESEARCH evaluation
RESEARCH funding
RISK management in business
STATISTICAL sampling
SELF-evaluation
SHOULDER pain
STATISTICAL hypothesis testing
SURVEYS
T-test (Statistics)
INFORMATION resources
REGULATORY approval
MULTIPLE regression analysis
SOCIOECONOMIC factors
CROSS-sectional method
TRANSPORTATION of patients
DATA analysis software
WORK experience (Employment)
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
ODDS ratio
SYMPTOMS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 01606891
- Volume :
- 38
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Research in Nursing & Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 103802943
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.21657