Healthcare workers' knowledge for safe handling and moving of the patient

Health status and ergonomics education: A comparison between student nurses and first-year nursing staff

AIMS

To (a) compare student nurses' health status and levels of ergonomics knowledge and awareness to those of first-year nursing staff and (b) investigate the association between nurses' ergonomic compliance and health status with their educational preparedness.

DESIGN

This cohort study compared ergonomics awareness and knowledge, and health status of nurses when they were students and after their first-year working in medical facilities.

METHODS

In total, 133 4th-year student nurses completed a survey; 45 of them completed a second survey after working 1 year in a medical facility. Their health status was compared over time using repeated-measures ANOVA. Correlation tests were used to analyse associations between ergonomics knowledge and awareness, health status, demographic variables and educational preparedness.

RESULTS

Respondents in both surveys displayed weak knowledge of ergonomic principles significantly associated with increased pain intensity and educational preparedness.

PATIENT CONTRIBUTION

Ergonomics training should be expanded during nursing studies and first-year training to prevent long-term health disorders.

Co-exposures to physical and psychosocial work factors increase the occurrence of workplace injuries among French care workers

Objective

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of co-exposures to physical and psychosocial factors (PSF) regarding the incidence of workplace injuries (WI) among care workers. Additional objective was to identify the work factors associated with the co-exposure combinations leading to the highest rates of WI.

Methods

The study sample consisted of 4,418 care workers participating to the French Working Conditions Survey both in 2013 and 2016. WI were assessed during the 4-year follow-up by matching the databases of the National Health Insurance Funds' compensation system. We assessed exposure for physical factors and PSF using factorial analyses and hierarchical clustering. We implemented a Poisson regression model with the WI incidence as the outcome and the clusters as independent variables of interest. Logistic regression model allowed identifying the work factors that predicted co-exposure combinations with a WI rate > 40%.

Results

WI were highly related to both physical and psychosocial exposures. With low exposure to one or the other, there was no increased risk of WI. Physical factors and PSF potentiated each other and their co-exposure significantly increased the risk of WI, with model predicted rates per 1,000 persons-year for those most exposed to physical risk of 14.6 [4.5-24.8] with low PSF and 38.0 [29.8-46.3] with high PSF. Work factors that predicted co-exposure combinations with a rate > 40 WI% were: working as nursing assistant or hospital services officer, lack of predictability and flexibility of schedules, overtime, controlled schedules, work-family imbalance and insufficient preventive measures.

Conclusions

Our findings highlight the need to take into account psychosocial factors in addition of only considering physical factors when analyzing WI occurrence, as usually done. Prevention actions must be taken to reduce both physical and psychosocial exposure. These results provide keys points for the prevention of WI among care workers.