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Learning Objective 1: Understand the incidence, severity and influencing factors of musculoskeletal disorders in Taiwan's operation room nurses.
Learning Objective 2: The MSDs become more severe as a result of an increase of age, years of nursing practice, and years of operation room employment.
Methods: This cross-sectional correlation study with the purposive sampling method. Structure questionnaires were used to survey nurses employed in Tainan and Kaohsiung medical centers. A sample consists of 218 operation room nurses and anesthetic nurses.
Results: The incidence of MSDs was 83.9% in the operation room nurses. The most frequently reported body injuries in parts were low back (58.3%), shoulder (45.9%), and neck (43.1%). Significant differences were found between age, spinal disease history, years of nursing practice, years of operation room employment, level of clinical ladder and the severity of MSDs.
Conclusion:
The MSDs is highly prevalent and the severity has an impact on nurses’ work and daily life. The MSDs become more severe as a result of an increase of age, years of nursing practice, and years of operation room employment. Improving safe work environment in operation room is demanded. We suggest nursing managers to schedule appropriate breaks during the work hours, buy protective devices, arrange continue education about the prevention of MSDs, as well as decrease the over-time work. It should prevent and reduce nurses’ accumulated musculoskeletal damage.