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Musculoskeletal disorders among female nurses in a rural Japanese hospital
Author(s) -
Smith Derek Richard,
Ohmura Kumeko,
Yamagata Zentaro,
Minai Junko
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
nursing and health sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.563
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1442-2018
pISSN - 1441-0745
DOI - 10.1046/j.1442-2018.2003.00154.x
Subject(s) - medicine , family medicine , nursing
The present research investigated the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) among a previously understudied group of Asian nursing professionals in a rural setting. A total of 305 female nurses (84% response rate) were recruited from a university teaching hospital in Yamanashi prefecture, central Japan. Data were gathered by means of a self‐reporting questionnaire. Lower back pain (LBP) was the most commonly reported MSD, affecting 59% of all nurses. This was followed by MSD of the shoulder (46.6%), neck (27.9%), knees (16.4%) and upper leg (11.8%). Working in the surgical department was shown to increase the risk of any MSD 2.7 times when compared to nurses in the other departments (odds ratio 2.7, 95% confidence interval 1.2–6.7, P = 0.0202). Overall, our study shows that MSD are reasonably common among registered nurses in a rural Japanese hospital. These staff may also be at greater risk of suffering MSD than their city‐based nursing counterparts and foreign colleagues, particularly with respect to LBP.