Occupational Hazards for Nurses, Nurses Assistants

The occupational environment for nurses presents a variety of physical challenges including lifting patients, moving heavy objects, maneuvering machinery, and executing motions that involve extreme postures. Heavy lifting and manual handling can increase the risk of back problems and other myosleletal disorders when proper lifting techniques and equipment are not used.  Furthermore, studies show that engaging in repetitive tasks, such as handling surgical sets and dealing with patients by moving, lifting, or lowering them, as well as pushing or pulling heavy loads, contributes to the escalation of musculoskeletal symptoms.  Prolonged standing or sitting, and assuming awkward or sustained postures during patient care activities, such as bending, twisting, or reaching, can place excessive strain on the musculoskeletal system and contribute to respective disorders.  The predominant activities observed include repetitive elbow flexion/extension, followed by repetitive movements of the wrist and fingers, and heavy lifting, while increased physical demands and workload due to understaffing lead to fatigue and increased risk of MSDs.

Sitting, and sitting when working at the computer may not be as demanding to your myoskeletal system as lifting patients, but if you are feeling pain in your body, it may be as much of a cause of our symptoms as the more obvious 
Another crucial factor is the type of department the nursing staff serves as well as the ergonomic factors. Concerning the department, surgical department and operating room nurses are the most vulnerable. Positioning patients on the operating table, lifting and carrying instrument trays, organizing instrumentation, maintaining prolonged static postures while assisting surgeons in combination to the “sitting/standing policy” seriously burden the operating room nurses. Additionally, imperfect workspace design and poor maintenance of surgical carts and trays increases the likelihood of musculoskeletal symptoms, while the effect of time pressure on the musculoskeletal system is also underlined is different studies. Finally, lack of training and education of nursing staff on prevention of MSDs can result in use of improper techniques that are opposed to ergonomic principles, ineffective use of equipment, and avoidance of self-care practices.