Physical and Psychosocial Work Environmental Risk Factors for Back Injury among Healthcare Workers: Prospective Cohort Study

Lars Louis Andersen, Jonas Vinstrup, Ebbe Villadsen, Kenneth Jay and Markus Due Jakobsen
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Lars Louis Andersen: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Jonas Vinstrup: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Ebbe Villadsen: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Kenneth Jay: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Markus Due Jakobsen: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-10

Abstract: The incidence of occupational back injury in the healthcare sector remains high despite decades of efforts to reduce such injuries. This prospective cohort study investigated the risk factors for back injury during patient transfer. Healthcare workers ( n = 2080) from 314 departments at 17 hospitals in Denmark replied to repeated questionnaires sent every 14 days for one year. Using repeated-measures binomial logistic regression, controlling for education, work, lifestyle, and health, the odds for back injury (i.e., sudden onset episodes) were modeled. On the basis of 482 back injury events, a higher number of patient transfers was an important risk factor, with odds ratio (OR) 3.58 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.51–5.10) for 1–4 transfers per day, OR 7.60 (5.14–11.22) for 5–8 transfers per day, and OR 8.03 (5.26–12.27) for 9 or more transfers per day (reference: less than 1 per day). The lack of necessary assistive devices was a common phenomenon during back injury events, with the top four lacking devices being sliding sheets (30%), intelligent beds (19%), walking aids (18%), and ceiling lifts (13%). For the psychosocial factors, poor collaboration between and support from colleagues increased the risk for back injury, with OR 3.16 (1.85–5.39). In conclusion, reducing the physical burden in terms of number of daily patient transfers, providing the necessary assistive devices, and cultivating good collaboration between colleagues are important factors in preventing occupational back injuries among healthcare workers.

Keywords: health care sector; nurses; occupational injuries; low back pain; workplace (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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